Phantasm
by KaeterinaRomanov
Summary: One day Danny gets Danielle, now known as Ellie, as a daughter from Clockwork. Danny ends up joining the Justice league. Years later Ellie joins the team with the others. This is the story of Ellie Fenton and how she makes her way into the hearts of the heroes.
1. Chapter 1

**Just a heads up to anyone who doesn't like slow paced stories, this probably won't be a story for you. Most of my other stories are quick to get to the exciting parts. With this story I want to try and challenge myself to move the story along slower. So I hope that you enjoy!**

Danny smiled as he floated above the town. He crossed his hands behind his head and simply relaxed as he patrolled. At the moment life was good. A few months ago he had turned seventeen. He had finally gotten his grades back up to a B average. He had also told his parents and Valerie about his duel life a little over a year ago. He did have to admit it took a huge block off of his shoulders and it was nice not having to worry about them trying to obliterate him. When he had told Valerie she had gotten pissed at him, though not for the reason he had originally thought. She had been angry he hadn't told her sooner. She felt horrible that she had been attacking one of the people she had been trying to protect. She now helped him a lot with controlling the ghosts now. She had even made a few ghostly friends in Dora and Frostbite, he called that progress.

His mom and dad had also accepted him. Dad had gone off on a rant of how cool it was to have a son with superpowers and how he could be his sidekick. His mom had been a bit wary at first, but after a few weeks of making sure he wasn't a full ghost trying to trick them, she came around for the most part. Though every once and a while he catches her giving him an odd look. Now instead of trying to capture and experiment on ghosts they were focusing on making weapons and gadgets to help him fight the ghosts. Yeah things really had never been better for one Danny Phantom.

Almost immediately after having that thought a portal appeared right in front of him. Clock hands spinning around to open the portal. Danny let out a sigh, he just had to jinx it didn't he? Leave it to Clockwork to summon him and most likely tell him something world changing when things are great. He took a deep breath and then plunged into the portal.

He came out into Clockwork's main room. The room that had hundreds of clocks and the screen that Clockwork views the different timelines. The only thing missing was Clockwork himself.

"Uh, Clockwork? Where are you?" Danny called out. He let out a huff as he looked around. He did have stuff to do, like homework, stupid stopwatch.

"I'm sorry for my tardiness Daniel." Clockwork said as he appeared through a door. His sudden appearance started Danny as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "She took longer too quiet down than I had thought."

Danny sent him a confused look "Um, what?" he said.

Clockwork looked at him seriously "Daniel she is why I called you here today. There is a matter of great importance to talk about. It is a decision that will change your future." When Clockwork saw the terrified look on Danny's face he elaborated "It is not like a Dan decision. Do not worry Daniel."

Danny let go of the breath he hadn't known he was holding. "Oh thank god! You had me worried there for a second. So what do we need to talk about?"

Clockwork gave a small nod and started "You remember Danielle do you not?"

"Of course I do. I haven't heard from her in over a year though, is she alright?" Danny asked nervously.

"She is fine, though she is not as you remember her. I am not going to cut corners here Daniel. The serum spray you gave her to stabilize was only temporary. She started to destabilize once more. Now against the observer's wishes I stepped into save her. When Vlad made her he used an unstable method and he created her too quickly. To keep her stable she needed time to grow. So I gave her that time. I reverted her time to make her a baby. Follow me Daniel."

Clockwork went back into the room he had come out of. Danny hesitated a moment before following, he wasn't entirely sure what direction this was going to go. The moment he stepped through the door his eyes went wide and his eyebrows shot up. The entire room was a nursery! Toys and stuffed animals practically filled the room. Standing in the middle of the room was a crib. In that crib was a sleeping Danielle, who was a baby.

He hadn't really fully believed Clockwork until he had seen her himself. But there she was, a sleeping one-year-old. He had no doubt that it was her either, she looks almost identical to his baby pictures. Well, now that Clockwork showed him about this, what was going to happen? He looked down at his sleeping clone and his heart melted a bit. She was adorable dressed in a deep purple and green onesie. One hand was clasped tightly to a Phantom plushy. A fond smile made its way onto his face.

"What are you going to do with her then?" Danny asked, not looking up from Danielle.

Unknown to Danny a sly smile appeared on Clockwork's usually unemotional face. "Well she is going to need a parent." He said casually.

"That's obvious, but who?" Danny asked, his cluelessness kicking in.

"Who better than the person she is created from?" Clockwork said.

Danny nodded for a moment before realizing what Clockwork meant. His eyes went wide again. He spun as he practically screamed "What!"

His shout woke up Danielle and she started crying. When Clockwork made no move too quiet the child Danny sighed and picked her up. A few seconds of Danny holding her she quieted down and simply started up at him with big blue eyes. Then a smile lit up her face and she let out a happy laugh.

"Yes Daniel, you. She will have no memory of her first attempt at life. When she gets older she will regain her ghost powers and she will need someone to help her through that. You are practically her father already, your DNA runs through her. However; this ultimately is your decision if you choose to take her or not."

"But Clockwork, I'm only seventeen. I'm still a kid myself. I barely take care of myself, how am I supposed to take care of a baby? I don't even know how to take care of a kid!" Danny said.

Clockwork simply said nothing hoping this would end up like he hoped. Danny looked down at Danielle, to Clockwork, then back to Danielle. When she had been twelve he had already thought of her as a little sister, it wouldn't be too big of a step to think of her as a daughter. If Vlad found out about her it would be disastrous, she wouldn't be able to defend herself. Not for years. In the bottom of his heart he knew he wouldn't be able to leave her with Clockwork. He had to protect her. Protect her form Vlad and from the world.

He shifted his hold on Danielle and looked at Clockwork, determination in his eyes. "Okay, I'll take her. She'll be my precious little daughter. I'll protect her Clockwork, I promise. Wow only seventeen and I have a one-year-old daughter, never saw that coming."

Clockwork gave a small smile "A good decision Daniel. I am proud of you. Now it has gotten late, I suggest you make your way back to your home." Danny gave a nod and said goodbye to Clockwork. Moments later he took off flying through the ghost zone holding Danielle in his arms. Clockwork's lips twitched downwards as he said "All is as it should be. It will get better young Daniel." He would make sure of it.

As Danny was heading home a thought came to his head. How was he going to explain this to his parents? Jazz would help him, he was sure. It was a weekend so she wouldn't have any classes. Maybe she would be willing to come home and help him out. Mind made up he took his phone out of his belt and dialed his sister.

She answered on the second ring "Hello little brother, what's up?" she asked happily.

"Hey Jazz, I need your help." Danny said.

Jazz immediately got serious going into overprotective sister mode "What's wrong Danny?"

"Nothing is wrong, not really. It's just… you remember me telling you about Danielle right?" Danny said.

"She's the clone Vlad made of you right?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah, well something happened. Clockwork turned her into a baby and I'm choosing to look after her. Jazz I've become a dad and I don't know what to do. I'm on my way home and I don't know how to explain this to Mom and Dad." Danny explained quickly.

Jazz was silent for a tense moment before saying "I'm coming home, don't worry I'll help you. Don't go home until I get there. We'll have to tell them about Vlad, there is no other way to explain Danielle. I'm leaving now so I'll be home in a little over an hour." Jazz said in understanding.

Danny let out a sigh of relief "Thanks Jazz, I knew I could count on you. I'll see wait at Sam's house for you. See you soon."

"See you soon little brother." Then she hung up.

Danny put his phone away then slowed down a good bit. He held Danielle in front of him, she gave him a happy smile as she reached for him and babbled.

"Hey Danielle, our new lives start today." Danny said with a smile, then he frowned thoughtfully "It would be a mouthful to call you Danielle all the time, and you didn't really like it before. You preferred Dani. That would get confusing fast though, both of us being called Danny. So what should I call you huh?" Danny asked her. Suddenly he got it and he smiled at her "How does Ellie sound?"

She gave a happy giggle so Danny just assumed she like it "Yeah I think Ellie fits you well. Danielle Jazz Fenton, welcome to the family." It just felt natural to name her after his sister.

A few minutes later he made it to his parent's portal. He turned both himself and Ellie invisible and intangible and flew them out of his parent's house without them even knowing he was there.

He flew straight to Sam's house. He landed behind their massive bushes and transformed. He held Ellie close to him and went to the door. He rang the doorbell and waited. After a few moments their butler opened the door.

He gave Ellie a strange look before saying "Ah young Mr. Fenton, what can I do for you?" the butler asked.

"Just here to see Sam." Danny answered.

"Very well. Young Miss is upstairs in her room, I'm sure you know the way."

"Thank you." Danny said as he squeezed passed the butler and made his way upstairs. When he made it to Sam's room he knocked on the door. He had learned his lesson about just barging in. "Hey Sam, it's me." He looked down at Ellie to find her asleep once more.

Sam opened the door and immediately saw the baby in Danny's arms. "Um… where did the baby come from?" she asked bluntly.

Danny walked into her room and she shut the door. "It's Danielle, well Ellie for short. Clockwork reverted her time. Now, well, I'm her dad." Danny said awkwardly.

"You're her what?!" Sam yelled.

Danny glared at her as he shushed her. He glanced down at Ellie as she stirred, but she didn't wake up "She just fell back to sleep, keep your voice down would you."

"Sorry." She said, though it didn't look like she meant it. It was no secret she didn't like kids, she even hated babysitting her cousins. "That just came out of nowhere. Are you sure about this Danny? I mean taking care of a kid is a lot of work. And you were just getting your grades back up. Can't Clockwork take care of her?"

Danny frowned "He could, but for now she's simply human. She won't get her ghost powers back until she's older. A human, my clone none the less, wouldn't do well in the ghost zone for long. Plus Clockwork made a really good point. My DNA is running through her, she's practically my daughter already."

"What are you going to tell your parent's" she asked, glancing at Ellie.

Danny let out a long breath "Not quite completely sure yet. Jazz is coming home to help. I already told her about Ellie. I'm going to have to tell them about Vlad. Really this was a long time coming. I'm surprised they didn't figure it out when I told them about me. They do deserve to know about him, they think he's their friend. Otherwise there is no way to explain Ellie."

"Your parents are going to flip out Danny. They are easy going in a lot of things, but do you really think they are going to accept a half ghost clone of you? Your mom doesn't even fully accept your ghost half. I've seen the looks she gives you Danny and I know you do too."

Danny frowned "Why are you so against this?"

Sam bit her lip "It's not that I'm against it Danny. I just want what is best for you and between ghost fighting, patrol, and school do you really think you can add a one-year-old in the mix? You'll burn yourself out."

"I'll figure it out Sam. I'm not giving her up. I can't explain it exactly, it's like I have to protect her. I think my obsession has taken Ellie in as its own already. Even if I wanted to give her back, which I don't, I don't think my ghost half would let me." Danny tried to explain.

Sam let out a sigh "Okay, okay. Fine you win. I'll help you out in any way I can. We should probably call Tucker and have him come over."

Danny turned a bit red "Oh right, kinda forgot about telling him." To be honest he was nervous about what his best friend was going to think.

Sam gave a smirk "Yeah you forgot, on purpose." She pulled out her phone and dialed Tuck. "Hey Tuck come over to my house, there is an emergency Phantom meeting." She said before hanging up.

Danny raised an eyebrow "Really we're classifying this as a Phantom meeting?" he asked in amusement. Phantom meetings were called when something important came up for Phantom; like a major battle, battle plans, or going over new devices.

She shrugged "I figured it would get him here faster."

Less than five minutes later Tucker came bursting through the door, a small box in his hands. "What is wrong now? There was a box from CL on my doorstep when I left. How bad is it this time? Please don't say Dan again!" Tucker hollered.

Which in turn woke up Ellie. Immediately she started crying. Danny glared at him "Thanks a lot Tuck, she was nice and quiet before you got here."

The moment Tucker saw/heard the baby he was stricken into silence as he froze in place. Sam rolled her eyes and took the box from Tucker.

"Clockwork probably saw the blundering fool was coming and sent a care package. Let's see what he sent." She opened the box and smiled "Perfect." She pulled out a sippy cup filled with cold milk. "This will help, she's probably hungry."

Danny took the cup and smiled "Thanks Sam." He gave the cup to Ellie who stopped crying and happily took the cup. "What else is in there?"

"Let's see." She looked in the box and promptly burst out laughing. "Who says Clockwork doesn't have a sense of humor." She pulled out the Phantom plushy that they had left at Clockwork's.

Danny let out a laugh "Yeah, she seemed to like that. She had a tight grip on it while she was sleeping."

Suddenly Tucker blurted out "Baby!" as he pointed at Ellie.

Sam and Danny gave Tucker a look and rolled their eyes. "Thank you captain obvious." Sam said.

They sat the, in shock, Tucker down and proceeded to explain everything. Tucker's response, well, they should have seen it coming. Danny didn't need to be worried for one second.

"Oh dude, you have to let me borrow her! Babies are chick magnets. I would have all the ladies after me." Tucker said with a grin.

Danny deadpanned "I am not lending you my daughter to impress girls Tuck." Tucker groaned while Sam laughed "However; Ellie is going to need godparents and I can't think of anyone better than you two. If you want of course." Danny smiled.

Sam and Tucker shared a look and then smiled. "Of course!" they said together.

Danny sent them a big smile "That's great! I was really hoping you would say yes."

For the next half hour, the three of them sat on Sam's floor and played with Ellie. Time flew by and before they knew it the butler was at the door.

"Excuse me Young Miss but Miss Jazz is here for young Mr. Fenton." He said through the door after he knocked.

Danny stood up and packed up Clockwork's care package in the black shoulder bag Clockwork had provided. Then he grabbed Ellie from Tucker.

Danny sent them a nervous smile "Wish me luck guys. The hard part is coming up."

"Good luck dude, hope everything turns our well." Tucker said.

"I'm sure everything will work out. If not at first, eventually." Sam told him.

"Thanks guys. I'll see you later." Danny handed Ellie the Phantom plushy as he walked out of Sam's room.

The moment Danny was out of sight Sam and Tucker shared a look. They both had a really bad feeling that this wasn't going to end well.

Just before Danny made it to the front he was stopped by Sam's grandma. She stopped her wheelchair right in front of him, making him stop.

"Now you listen here young man. I'm not sure where the child came from, and I will not ask. I do demand however that you take good care of her. If you don't I'll make you sit down and listen to one of my lectures. If you do, I know you'll be a good father Danny." She told him.

Danny's eyes went wide with surprise. There really was something extraordinary about Grandma Ida. Danny gave her a happy smile "Thanks Grandma Ida, I'll take really good care of her."

Ida gave a nod as she moved out of the way "That is all I ask Danny. Have a good day."

Danny moved past her and to the door. As he opened it Jazz was standing there waiting for him. The moment Jazz saw Ellie her eyes lit up.

She snatched the baby right out of Danny's arms "Oh Danny she's adorable. She looks just like you when you were a baby. What did you decide to call her?"

Danny gave a laugh as they made their way to Jazz's car. "How do you know I'm not just going to call her Danielle?"

Jazz sent him a look "Because I know you little brother. So spill, what is my niece's name?"

Danny smiled "Her name is Ellie Jazz Fenton."

Jazz stopped in her tracks. She turned towards her brother with tears in her eyes "You, you named her after me?" she asked happily.

Danny rubbed the back of his neck nervously "Well yeah, it just seemed like the right thing to do. I mean you are always there for me and it was the first thing that came to mind. You don't mind do you?"

Jazz pulled Danny into a hug, being careful to not crush Ellie "Of course I don't mind Danny. I love you little brother!" she said happily.

They quickly made their way to her car. To Danny's surprise Jazz had a car seat in the backseat of her car. He looked at her questioningly as she strapped Ellie in.

Jazz gave a shrug "It was just there when I got to my car. Didn't really question it as I knew I would need it."

Danny let out a laugh as he shook his head "Clockwork is really thinking of everything isn't he?"

Jazz looked over at him as she started her car "Clockwork is the ghost of time right? I've never actually met him."

He shrugged "He's a friend, well most of the time. Usually when we hear from him he's bringing along bad news. This time it was actually pretty good news. Which, now that I think about it, is pretty much a first."

Jazz let out a laugh and they fell into a pleasant conversation as they made their way home. Before they knew it they were in front of their house. Danny took a deep breath and steadied himself. It was time. They got out of the car and Danny got Ellie out. He looked over at Jazz.

"This isn't going to be easy. Dad practically worships Vlad." Danny said.

Jazz put her arm on his shoulder. "We will get through this together little brother. I'm with you, no matter what happens."

"Thanks Jazz."

They walked into the house together and readied themselves for whatever was going to happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Danny and Jazz made their way to the living room. They heard racket coming from downstairs, meaning their parents were once again in the lab. Danny handed Ellie over to Jazz, since he was explaining he wanted to focus on what he was saying. Danny took a moment to calm his nerves before yelling "Mom, Dad, I'm home. Can you come up. There is something we need to tell you."

Jazz sent her brother a reassuring smile as she kept her niece occupied.

"Who is we?" his mom yelled back as they walked up the stairs "You're late Danny and you didn't call, we were getting worried." She continued. When she walked into the room she saw Jazz "Oh what a nice surprise, you came home to visit." Then she saw the baby Jazz was holding "Where did the baby come from?"

Then Jack came into the room "Jazzy pants!" he exclaimed happily.

"Hi Mom. Hi Dad. Sit down please, Danny wants to explain something to you." Jazz told her parent.

They did sit down, but Maddie's eyes never left the one-year-old. "What do you need to talk about Danny?" she asked.

Determination filled Danny's eyes "Well I don't really know how to explain this nicely so I'm just going to say it. I am not the only halfa you've created."

Surprise and horror filled their parent's eyes. "What?" Jack asked in shock. Not only did they almost kill their son, but they almost killed someone else as well? "Who?"

Danny looked over at Jazz and she nodded, it was time. "Vlad." He said seriously. Before his parents could comment he continued "It happened when you guys were in college. When the prototype portal blew up in his face. Only unlike me he didn't choose to use his powers to help people. He only tries to help himself. He used his ghost powers to become rich, he used them to become mayor, and he uses them against me. He really is a crazed up fruit loop.

"His ultimate goal is to kill dad, marry mom, and have me as the perfect son. I'm not really sure what his plans with Jazz are, he hasn't really mentioned that in his evil rants. I'm sorry I never really wanted you guys to find out. I figured I was strong enough to keep him at bay. Plus, he kept threatening me with different things if I told you guys. But with circumstances the way they are I kinda have to tell you. Now I know you have a lot you want to say, but please let me finish first.

"When I was fifteen and Vlad had been trying for close to a year to get me to come to his side, he started trying something different. I guess that he figured if he couldn't get me to go to him, he would create his own. He started to clone me, well he tried. Every single one he made didn't last long, or had something wrong with it. He figured out that he needed my mid-morph DNA, which obviously I wasn't going to give to him. He tried for a while until he got one that was successful, well kinda. Three things were wrong. One it turned out twelve instead of fifteen. Two it wasn't stable, when they used its powers for too long it would start to lose stability. And thirdly, well she turned out as a girl. Danielle came to me staging herself as y second cousin twice removed. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Vlad caught me for a while, that is until he messed up like usual. He told me exactly what he was going during his evil rant. Well he admitted that he was simply that he was simply going to melt Danielle down once he got my mid-morph DNA. Danielle overheard and helped me escape.

"After that we parted ways because she wanted to see the world. I let her go, but I didn't know that she was unstable. Not at the time at least. A few months later she came back and was in pretty bad shape. She was barely keeping herself from melting into a puddle of ectoplasm. After another run in with Vlad we finally got her stabilized. Or so I thought. She went to travel the world again. That was a little over a year ago.

"Today one of my allies, Clockwork, summoned me. When I got there he explained to me that my attempt at stabilizing Danielle was only temporary. He went against his bosses wishes and saved Danielle from un-stabilizing permanently. But really going against his bosses should just be his goal, they really are a bunch of narrow minded idiots. I mean they wanted to kill me because there was a chance I could get too much power.

"Well probably long story short, the baby Jazz is holding is Danielle now. Ellie for short. I'm choosing to look after her, I'm choosing to become her dad." Danny finished, praying that his parents would understand.

"No!" Jack yelled, almost angrily. "Vladdie would never do that. He's a good man, a good friend."

"Vlad aside, you are too young to be a father young man! I will not allow you to throw your life away because of this. Just give her back to that ghost." Maddie told him.

Danny narrowed his eyes in anger and Jazz held onto Ellie a bit tighter.

"First of all, no, I am not getting rid of her like some lost puppy. She deserves a family just as much as anyone else. Second of all Vlad is Plasmius, or as you guys know him better the Wisconsin Ghost. You want to get proof easily just shake his hands with him while wearing the specter deflector. Trust me it works even in human form."

"You two need to respect the choice that Danny has made. He is brave to take on a responsibility this big at his age. Also I can back up Danny's statement. Vlad is Plasmius, I've been kidnapped a few times by him as bait for Danny. Vlad really will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Do you realize how easy it would be for him to get to Ellie if Danny doesn't protect her?" Jazz defended her brother.

"No I simply will not allow that, creation to live in this house Danny." Maddie said angrily. Jack was strangely quiet.

"Mom, you need to understand this. I'm not asking for permission; I've already made up my mind." Danny told her.

"Danny in you are no condition to look after a child, a falsely created one no less." Maddie said.

Danny's eyes went wide "My condition? Do you mean because I'm half ghost?" his mom didn't say anything back, simply looked at him with sad eyes "Are you saying that you think because I'm not completely human I'm not fit to love someone?" he asked angrily.

Maddie didn't look him in the eyes as she said "Of course not Danny, that isn't what I'm saying."

Jazz suddenly stood up "I thought that you guys had accepted Danny, but I can see I was wrong. This is no environment for him to be in, or raise my niece in. You don't want Ellie to live here? Fine then, I'm taking Danny and Ellie with me. I have a spare room in my apartment they can share. If you don't accept Ellie, then it is your loss. Come on Danny let's go."

Danny stood up, upset that his parent hadn't accepted his decision, and his mom's hidden dislike for his ghost half. He turned to follow Jazz. Jack and Maddie got up to stop their son, but they didn't get far. They had only taken a few steps when the front door got blasted open. If Danny hadn't quickly thrown up a shield his family would've been pelted with bits of the door.

Ellie started crying at the noise and Jazz immediately started trying to calm her down. Danny let down the shield and they all looked to see who had blasted in their front door. Jazz held Ellie closer to her, trying in vain to hide the upset child. Both Jack and Maddie froze in shock, not wanting to believe what their eyes were telling them. That Danny had indeed been telling the truth.

"No." Jack whispered sadly.

Standing angrily in the doorway stood Vlad, still in human form, his hands glowing with his red ecto-blasts. Vlad shook his head in fake sadness as he entered the house.

"Oh Little Badger. I thought I had made it abundantly clear that there would be consequences to you telling my secret." Vlad told him angrily.

Danny's jaw dropped "How did you even know? I literally just told them." Not that they believed him anyway.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. Did you honestly believe I wouldn't keep tabs on you?" Vlad asked as one of his robot bugs flew off the wall. Then he turned to Jazz who was trying to sneak away. "So it's true. I thought my bug might have been glitching. That tiny thing is my failed experiment?" a feral grin made its way to his face "Oh this just made the game so much easier Daniel. It will be so much simpler to melt her down and examine her now. She can't fight back."

Danny let out a snarl as he transformed "You're not touching her Vlad!"

Vlad let out an evil laugh as he transformed into Plasmius "I'm not playing nice anymore, boy. You will join me, one way or another. If I have to put off on melting the child down for a while, that is doable. Holding Danielle hostage will be quite easy, and you'll do what I say. You always did form attachments far too easily. You've just given yourself a giant handicap Little Badger. Just wait until your enemies learn about the child."

Danny narrowed his eyes; he had thought about that, but he was confident he could protect her. "I'll just make it known that it'll be a bad idea to mess with my kid. If I have to start with you I will Vlad." Danny's hands lit up with his green energy, he needed to distract Vlad long enough so Jazz could get out of here with Ellie. Well annoying Vlad is something that he is really good at. Danny let a smirk come on his face "You know Vlad; your secret would have been safe. You are really the one who blew it. They didn't believe me that their wonderful friend from collage could ever do something bad. You really are a crazy fruit loop."

Vlad's eyes went wide at the information and his head whipped over to Jack and Maddie. Maddie had a hand over her mouth, terror and disgust in her eyes.

Jack looked like the world had just collapsed around him. He shook his head slowly "Vladdie?" he asked quietly.

Vlad felt his obsession for Maddie become even further from him. His eyes narrowed in anger. In his anger, his obsession of possessing Danny exploded. He would have his Little Badger, one way or another.

Vlad's hand lit up and he threw a high powered ecto-blast at Danny. Danny quickly threw up a shield, only it didn't last. Vlad's anger filled state of mind made him stronger and he was no longer holding back. Danny's eyes went wide with surprise for a split second before the ecto-blast hit him in the stomach.

Danny went flying and hit the wall hard, cracking it slightly. Danny slowly stood up, his hand automatically going to the source of pain. To his surprise his hand came back stained with his green and red blood. Danny looked up with wide eyes at Vlad. His eyes were glowing a bright red, more than usual, showing his anger.

"I am no longer going easy on you Daniel. I have twenty years of experience over you and I plan on using them. You can't beat me Little Badger. Not this time. You've threatened my obsession; I won't stand for that."

Danny quickly shot an ice beam at Vlad as he was talking, freezing him over. Knowing it wouldn't hold him long he turned to his sister.

"Get her out of here. Don't worry about me I'll catch up. Just go!" Danny yelled. Jazz nodded and ran out the back door. Her job was to keep her niece safe, she was not going to fail her job.

"Danny!" Maddie called out in concern, seeing her son bleeding.

Danny looked over to his parents; he gave them a look that stated they had their chance, it was too late now. "As soon as I take care of Vlad I'm going with Jazz. I'm not giving up on Ellie, I just can't."

A loud cracking filled the room. Danny turned to see the ice around Vlad was quickly breaking apart. Since Vlad had a fire core, it wasn't unexpected.

Suddenly the ice exploded and Vlad came flying at him at full speed. Danny turned them both intangible, and Vlad's momentum flung them out of the house. Danny somehow managed to get out of Vlad's hold. Crap, how was he going to win this one? Vlad was in a super-powered; anger filled, rage. His senses have left him, leaving nothing but his obsessions.

Trying to bide for time Danny blindly threw ecto-blast after ecto-blast in Vlad's direction. Every few times he switched to an ice blast in hopes of catching him off guard. While the tactic kept Vlad on the defensive it was draining him, quickly. Danny quickly took a sharp turn, Vlad a second behind him.

Suddenly it was Danny who was on the defensive. Trying desperately to dodge all of Vlad's attacks. Danny made sharp turns, cut through allies, and sunk into the ground a few times in his attempts to avoid Vlad's attacks. It came to the point Danny wasn't even paying attention to what direction he was going. All he knew was if Vlad got a hit on him he wouldn't be able to get away again. Danny quickly pulled a right turn as an ecto-bolt flew past him, missing him by mere centimeters. Danny's eyes went wide as in front of him he saw Fenton works, he'd somehow made a complete circle. His parents were standing outside; Jack was holding the bazooka, while Maddie had a tracking device and a Fenton blaster.

He was about to yell out a warning, to get inside where it would be safe, when one of Vlad's blasts finally hit its mark. Danny screamed out in pain as he lost control of his flight. He plummeted towards the ground at high speeds. His one thought before he made contact with the ground was, this is really going to hurt. He hit the ground so hard he dug a path through the road for a few feet, then his momentum carried him up and over. Then he was bouncing and rolling down the road, gathering cuts and bruises as he went. Finally, he rolled to a stop half a block from his house.

"Danny!" he heard his mom scream out in fear.

"Danny boy!" His dad Hollard worriedly.

"Stay back!" Danny croaked out painfully. He heard Vlad land behind him. He painfully started getting up, oh he was so tired. Truthfully this fight was almost as hard as the fight with Dan. He got up on shaky legs and faced Vlad.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel. You will be mine Little Badger, even if I have to beat the fight out of you. Trying to get away is pointless." Vlad said while advancing towards Danny.

"Vladdie stop this!" Jack yelled out. Neither Jack of Maddie had moved from their spot, too in shock to move. Sure they had seen Danny get hurt before, even from this ghost, but never this badly.

Vlad smirked and sent an ecto-blast at Danny. It hit Danny in the shoulder and he went back down to the ground, letting out a scream of pain.

"Oh I'm sorry, didn't quite catch that. Couldn't hear you over the boy's screams." A slow chuckle escaped him.

A rage filled Jack's eyes. How dare his supposed friend torture his son like that. With a cry of anger, he hefted the bazooka towards Vlad and pressed the trigger. For once in his life his aim was actually perfect. Only it had no effect. Vlad threw up a shield and then duplicated himself. In a split second there were five Vlads, all their hands lit up red with ecto-energy.

Evil maniacal laughter echoed through the street. "You can't beat me. No one can beat me." The original Vlad shouted. Then all five released their energy towards their targets. Three of them targeted Danny, while the other two targeted Jack. Danny managed to dodge of the blasts, but the other two found their marks. One hit his chest while the other grazed his leg.

Jack, who had more time to react, managed to dodge both. What nobody expected was one of the blasts going off course, hitting Maddie on her arm. Maddie let out a shriek of pain, she hadn't realized just how much those hurt.

Almost instantly the street when completely silent. The four Vlad duplicates dissipated, leaving only the original.

"Mo-mom are you okay?" Danny croaked worriedly. The one that had hit her had been the one he had dodged.

She nodded "I'm fine, they hurt worse than I thought they would." She had seen her son take many of those type of hits before starting to show pain. Her eyes widened slightly in horror as she remembered just how many of those he had been hit with in just this battle. How did he manage that pain?

Angry now Danny turned to Vlad. The anger drained from him when he saw Vlad standing there, horror written all over his face. Then Danny realized, Vlad had just hurt one of his own obsessions. Vlad's eyes stopped glowing, simply turning back to their regular red. Vlad's senses had come back to him.

"Maddie? Dearest?" Vlad said quietly. He took a single step forward.

In that split second Maddie had her Fenton blaster pointed at him, finger on the trigger. "Don't take another step towards me you monster. Did you honestly think I would even like you a little after continuously attacking my son?"

A person could almost visibly see something break inside Vlad. He had just been denied his obsession. Danny had never seen what happens to a ghost that loses their obsession. He had been told that they slowly fade away until they cease to exist. Those were full ghosts though. What would happen to a halfa? Even if it was only one of his obsession, it was the one that he had the longest. Danny himself always felt a pang of hurt in his core when somebody got hurt because of his fights.

"Vlad?" Danny asked hesitantly.

Vlad was silent for a moment before finally saying "You win today Little Badger. Just don't get comfortable, I will be back for you." Then he flew off in the direction of his mansion.

Danny slowly and painfully got up, this was the worst he's been hurt in a long time. As he made his way to his parents he took stock of his injuries while focusing on not turning back into human. He had two burns on his front, one on his back, one on his arm, and one on his leg. Two of his ribs were at least cracked; either from Vlad's initial attack or his interaction with the ground. He had gashes and bruises all over, and his head was bleeding slightly. Great this was going to hurt so much more when he turned human again. While ghost he had a bit of a pain buffer at least. Plus, Jazz was going to have a fit when he saw him. After what seemed like an eternity he made it to his parents.

"Are you okay Mom?" Danny asked tiredly.

"I should be asking you that young man. Are you going to be alright? Do we need to take you to the hospital?" Maddie asked him.

Danny shook his head "No, accelerated healing. Everything should be gone with the week. The small cuts and bruises will be gone by tomorrow." They walked into the house together. Danny headed towards the stairs, he needed to pack some stuff before he left "I'll be right back down." He said before floating up the stairs, no way was he going to walk them in his condition.

The first thing he did when he got to his room was calling Sam on video chat on his laptop. As it was connecting he started cleaning and bandaging his wounds.

After about a minute Sam picked up, Tucker was still at her house. A video game was paused in the background; Sam's character was winning like usual.

"Hey Danny how'd it go?" then she saw the state he was in "Oh god Danny what happened?" she yelled.

He gave her a tired smile "Well it went horribly to say the least. Mom has no intention what-so-ever to let Ellie stay in the house. She went so far as to insinuate I wasn't capable of taking care of a kid because I'm not fully human."

Anger filled Sam's whole face "That's bullshit Danny. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to go live with Jazz in her apartment. You guys need to keep a close eye out for Vlad, he kinda went insane. He had the house bugged and heard me tell them about him. He snapped and did this to me. Anyway I'm just letting you guys know. I'm grabbing a few things, turning off the ghost portal for good, grabbing some blueprints, then flying off to catch up with Jazz. I'll keep in touch, video chat everyday promise. I gotta get going now though, talk to you guys soon."

"See you Danny, be safe alright." Sam said sadly. She was losing one of her best friends.

"Good luck dude, if you don't call us I will back everything you own you understand." Tucker said. He would deny it to his last breath but tears started forming in his eyes.

Before it got any more emotional Danny hung up. He grabbed his backpack and dumped his school books out, he wouldn't be needing them. Most likely he would finish high school online so he could take care of Ellie. He put his laptop and charger, phone charger, enough clothes to fill the backpack up, and all the money he had saved up into the backpack. There he had the essentials, now for the personal items. He grabbed all of the photos around his room, his favorite spaceship model, some posters, his video games, and his gave station. Lastly he packed his ghostly essentials; two thermoses, a few pairs of Fenton phones, the lipstick lazar, Fenton fishing line, some wrist rays, a few Fenton blasters, and some specter deflectors.

Then he went intangible and went to the basement. Being quiet so his parent wouldn't hear him he started gathering the last things he was bringing with him. He grabbed the blueprints for the ghost portal, ghost shield, the Fenton blimp/jet, and some others for the devices he had grabbed already. He looked around and saw the ghost peeler and the Booo-merang. Sighing he grabbed those as well. He grabbed the peeler for Jazz, as she liked to use that one the most. He didn't trust the Booo-merang in anyone else's hands, he didn't feel like randomly getting hit in the head with it at random times. Finally, he walked over to the portal, with him gone would take over Amity within the week. While there would be Valerie, Sam, and Tucker he didn't want to risk it. Plus, there was still Vlad's portal that the brave or stupid ones could come through. Tucker and himself had thought of this about a year ago. Tucker had hacked the portal's system and inserted a code. Now all he had to do was activate it and the portal would remain dormant no matter what his parent's tried. Only him, Tucker, Sam, and Jazz would be able to reactivate it. If mom or dad wanted to try and reactive they would have to get passed Tucker's hack and that was nearly impossible. Danny typed in the code and watched as the glowing green portal disappeared. Danny let out a sigh of relief, at least that was taken care of.

Danny phased back up to his room, wincing slightly when he landed. Right, cracked ribs, forgot about that little detail. In total Danny had three bags; his necessity bag, his personal bag, and his ghost bag. The other bags were old backpacks that had rips and holes from ghost attacks, but they worked for what he needed at the moment. He took one last look around his room before making his way downstairs. This was it, he was actually leaving.

When he got to the living room he saw his parents sitting on the couch. His mom had wrapped her arm. He cleared his throat to get his parents attention. They turned and looked at him, when they saw his bags their expressions changed. His dad looked sad, like a kicked puppy. His mom on the other hand looked angry.

Before he could say anything his mom spoke "You're actually going through with this? You are going to choose that… that thing over your own parents?" she asked angrily.

Danny narrowed his eyes "Yes I am. Given any situation I would choose Ellie every time. I'm sorry that you can't accept her, or me really I guess. I'll keep in touch, but I'm going with Jazz. Bye."

Without giving them a chance to say anything he took off in the direction Jazz was going. He had really hoped he could've had a decent and peaceful goodbye. As he went higher, above the clouds, he sped up. Jazz had a half hour head start, plus he was beyond ready to rest. This really was the start of his new life; he was a dad, he was moving, and he would be able to focus more on school with a dramatic less amount of ghost attacks. Hopefully things will settle themselves out soon enough.

 **Hey Everyone, here is chapter 2! I have a problem someone could help me out with. Eventually Danny is going to move to his own town, build a ghost portal in his home, and start superheroing in that town. My problem is what the name of that town is going to be. I'm having trouble thinking of a town name that would belong in the DC universe that doesn't actually already belong in the DC universe. So if anyone wants to send me a suggestion that would be great! Hope everyone liked the chapter~**


	3. Chapter 3

Six months, Danny has now been a dad for six months. It was not easy; he had expected that though. If all he was doing was watching and taking care of Ellie it wouldn't actually be that hard. He was doing a few other things as well however. He was finishing up high school online, Jazz was helping so he could get through it quicker. He had also gotten a job; it wasn't like he could defend on Jazz for the rest of his life. He had found a job as a waiter at a family owned restraint just a few blocks away from Jazz's apartment.

Unfortunately, some ghosts had found out his location and somehow manage to break out of the ghost zone. The box ghost shows up about once daily. Which for him is calm, he used to show up about five times a day back in Amity. Skulker was another one that had found him. He ends up attacking him bi-weekly. Somehow he has managed to keep his ghost fighting a secret from the town he was living in. Which he thought was pretty impressive considering Jazz had chosen to go to college in Central city.

Around two months ago Danny found that he had a new power. One that he thinks formed out of necessity more than anything. He was able to open a small temporary portal to the ghost zone. He couldn't keep it open long, about thirty seconds at max, and he couldn't control exactly where it opened. The only place he could open it to successfully every time was near Ember's lair and that was because he had a lot of practice. Opening the portal however took a lot of energy, at the moment he could only open two per day.

Danny had just gotten off of work and was on his way home. He needed to relieve the babysitter before she got annoyed at him. Normally Jazz would watch Ellie for him, but she was at the library cramming for a big test. So, the person he had gotten to babysit for him was Ember. Once Ember had found out he had a kid she had promised to stop attacking him. She apparently had a soft spot for kids. They had ended up making a compromise. Ember could perform one concert a month anywhere she wanted to. As long as she didn't pick the same place two times in a row, gathered only enough energy from the crowd to keep her healthy, and left everything the way she found it. In return she would babysit Ellie when Danny really needed one. She already looks after Youngblood a lot so he knew he could trust her to take care of Ellie.

Danny was close to home when he heard the explosion. Since his ghost sense didn't go off it wasn't a ghost. Since it wasn't a ghost it wasn't his problem. Anyway, Flash would take care of it. Danny felt a small pang in his core, ignoring to help people, but he didn't want to be noticed. Not yet at least, not until Ellie was older. People around him started running the opposite direction the explosion had come from even though it wasn't super close to where they were. Danny just wanted to go home, without looking odd for being calm during a 'crisis'. He turned into an alley and turned himself invisible. He had to cross a block over anyway, he would just stay invisible until he got home. Danny put his hands in his pockets as he made his way down the alley. It was the moment he exited the alley that his first interaction with a member of the Justice League happened.

Danny took a few steps out onto the sidewalk when something ran into his outstretched leg. The person who ran into him faceplanted into the sidewalk. Danny momentarily lost his balance, the shock that someone had run into him snapped him into visibility. He didn't have the best control over his powers when he wasn't in his ghost mode. He could turn invisible, intangible, and form weak ecto-blasts when he wasn't interrupted, though he was still learning. Danny heard a groan and looked over to see who he had accidentally tripped. His eyes bulged a bit as he saw the red suited man kissing the sidewalk. He had tripped the Flash. Well crap, nice going Fenton.

"What the heck hit me?" Flash moaned. He turned around to see a teenage boy with black hair, who looked as shocked as Flash felt.

Danny rubbed the back of his head "Sorry, my bad. Didn't see you." He apologized.

"Where the heck did you come from? I didn't see you at all." Flash exclaimed

Making up a quick excuse Danny said "Yeah, I don't have much of a presence. Sometimes it's like I'm a ghost." He said as he smirked.

Flash narrowed his eyes a bit "No, no, no. You don't understand I should have been able to see you. I don't just randomly run into people. With how fast I was going it should've looked like you were walking in slow motion, practically staying still. I should have been able to see you!" Flash tried to convince himself that he hadn't somehow missed the kid. He wasn't that reckless while running, he always made sure to avoid civilians.

Danny gave a shrug trying to play it cool "Well I did just exit the alley." He commented.

"I still should have been able to see you!" Flash exclaimed.

Not wanting the Flash to think more into it Danny quickly said "Not that talking to a hero isn't really cool and all, but shouldn't' you be… I don't know… stepping whatever caused that explosion or something? Oh, sorry again for tripping you Flash."

Flash's eyes went wide "Of crap I forgot." He said before dashing off.

Danny let out a small laugh, well that was kinda fun actually. Who would've thought that the fastest man alive would be so clumsy? Danny turned and started his walk back home, he couldn't wait to get home to Ellie. He had been purposefully avoiding Flash as best he could, but it had actually been nice to talk to another hero. Even if Flash hadn't known that Danny himself was also a hero. A smile overtook Danny's face. Just wait until he tells Jazz and Ember he tripped the Flash.

He almost made it home when his ghost sense went off. He let out a groan. Boxy suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Beware Phantom. It is I, the box ghost. I have returned to get my box filled revenge on you. Fear my cardboard boxes of DOOM!" Boxy shouted.

Danny rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose "I really don't have time for this today Boxy. I just got off of work. I'm late relieving Ember from babysitting duty and she has a concert to get to. I'm tired dude, can we not do this today?"

Boxy deflated a bit "But I have yet to get my revenge. I demand square cardboard vengeance upon you!"

Danny sighed and his hand lit up in green energy "Fine have it your way."

Boxy's eyes went wide before saying "Wait Phantom, I have not come today for only to fight you. I, the box ghost, need to ask for your advice."

The energy in Danny's hand died out. He raised an eyebrow "Advice on what?" Boxy looked around nervously, but didn't say anything. "Look why don't we go to the apartment so I can let Ember get going and we can talk there."

Boxy nodded "Yes that sounds like a good plan Phantom. Then after I shall get my revenge."

"Yeah, yeah, you keep thinking that." Danny said as he started walking again, Boxy floating, strangely silent, behind him. "Uh Boxy can you go invisible please? I don't want people to see me with a floating blue person. I'm trying to stay on the down low. Honestly I'm surprised nobody's seen already."

"I, the box ghost, shall comply to your request Phantom. But only because you shall be helping me with my problem." Then he blinked out of visibility.

"Thanks Boxy." Danny said.

It took only five more minutes to get to his door. He grabbed his key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. The moment he opened the door Ember was passing Ellie to him.

"Where have you been Dipstick? I'm going to be late for my own concert!" she told him.

"Sorry Ember, but I had a small run in with the Flash. I accidentally tripped him. Then I got held up by Boxy." Danny explained. Boxy blinked into view and waved shyly.

Ember rolled her eyes at the Box Ghost "Wait a minute, did you say you tripped the Flash? That's priceless Baby pop. You'll have to tell me more about it later. I really do gotta jet. See you soon Baby pop." Ember took off through the roof to her concert location.

Ellie waved at the ceiling "Bye-bye." She said cutely. Then she looked at Danny "Daddy! Daddy!"

Danny smiled "What is it sweetie?"

She pointed to the living room "Puppy!" Puppy? He looked to the living room to see Cujo chewing on a pillow. When had Cujo gotten here?

"You're right it is a puppy. Why don't you go play with the puppy?" he set her down on the floor and she wobbled her way over to Cujo, a large smile on her face.

"How old is she now?" Boxy asked curiously.

"She's eighteen months, almost nineteen. She started talking a few weeks ago. She doesn't know many words just; daddy, puppy, bye, play, and no." He motioned for Boxy to follow him and made his way to the living room so he could keep a close eye on Ellie "So what did you wanna talk about?"

"Well I have a situation you need to help me with. You know I have been dating the beautiful Lunch Lady, right?"

Danny remembered when Boxy and Lunch Lady had come and attacked him at the same time. That had been when he still lived in Amity though. They had come to attack him together a few times after that as well. To be honest he had kinda forgot about it. Well more like he wanted to forget about it. A shiver went down his spine, the thought still made him go ew.

"Yeah, what about it? Oh, god you don't want dating advice to you? Because I am so not the person to go to. I've never really dated anyone more than a few weeks long before." Danny panicked.

Boxy shook his head "No it's not that. My wonderful Lunch Lady has been acting strange lately and I couldn't figure out why. She told me last night why. She told me that… that she's… ugh she told me that I'm going to be a dad." Boxy freaked out "So I thought of you right away. You have a kid so obviously; you'll know what to do. How do you prepare to be a dad? I, the Box Ghost, implore you to tell me your wisdom Phantom."

Danny froze, he had not expected that. Not one bit. He thought about his unfortunate trip into the future a year ago. So, Box Lunch was finally being born huh? Boxy wanted to know to be prepared?

Danny let out a small snort of laughter, that transformed into full-blown laughter. He saw the Boxy was giving him an almost hurt look "Sorry, sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just that there is really no way to prepare. I definitely had no time to prepare. I just suddenly got Ellie one day, no prier warning. It is definitely a learn by doing thing. Don't worry you'll do fine. Just give them love and attention and you'll do great, I'm sure. You're definitely stubborn enough."

Ellie chose that moment to come over by him "Daddy!" she said while holding her hands up.

He picked her up "Really it becomes almost natural after the first couple weeks." He handed her the doll Sam had gotten her, a goth princess. How and where she had found it he had no idea, but it was one of her favorites. He looked at the time and realized how late it was.

"Well look at that. Time for bed Princess." Ellie gave a yawn and rubbed her eyes.

"No." she said tiredly.

Danny gave a laugh "Yes. Otherwise how will you be well rested for the park tomorrow huh?" Ellie's eyes lit up at the word park and she didn't fight after that. She laid her head down on his chest as he stood up. The doll dropping from her hand as he started moving. "I'll be right back Boxy; I have to put her to bed. It's way past her bedtime."

Before he got out of the room Boxy's voice stopped him "Can I watch how you do it? I don't even know how to put a kid to bed." He sounded rather stressed, which was very odd coming from the Box Ghost.

"Sure, some times she takes a while to settle down. Probably not tonight though because she was up way later than usual. The manager needed me to work a later shift at the restaurant and she doesn't like to go to bed without seeing me first. Her bedroom is just down the hall; well actually, we share a room. Jazz's apartment is only a two room so we have to make do."

As they made it to the room Boxy looked around. He had never actually come in Phantom's new house. He was too scared to, not after what happened to Skulker when the zone had first found out about Ellie. Phantom had made it abundantly clear that Ellie was not to be involved; in any way. It had taken Skulker a few weeks to recover from Phantom's brutal attack. Normally it only takes people a few days at most, depending on how mad you made Phantom. Everyone feared Phantom's wrath if you touched his daughter. There was a new rule in the zone; Do NOT mess with Phantom's daughter. As the Box Ghost looked around he noticed how bare it was. Sure, there were a lot of toys thrown about, but hardly anything in the room was for Phantom himself. Phantom's old room had been filled with space themed things.

"Phantom why is your room so empty?" Boxy asked.

Danny looked over to him as he laid Ellie down in her crib "Well I don't really plan on staying here for much longer. I don't want to burden Jazz more than I already am. I want to move to my own place as soon as I can. I can't depend on my sister forever. I mean I have a kid now, I have to be more independent. I turn eighteen in a few months and I'm almost done with the online schooling. There is a college I'm looking at in Astral city. The tuition is decently cheap there and they have an engineering major which is what I'm going to go for. I've been saving up since I got here, plus I had what I had before I moved out. If I can find a place with cheap rent I figure I can move to soon after I turn eighteen."

A strangely thoughtful look appeared on Boxy's face "Your death day is coming up, right?"

A confused look appeared on Danny's face until he remembered that ghost celebrated their death day. Even his enemies had been strangely nice to him on his death day "Oh yeah. It's a few days after my birthday. Why?"

A slight blush came over Boxy's face "No reason Phantom, I was just curious."

"Okay?" Danny said, then he looked around before finding what he was looking for "Hey Boxy can you grab the bear over there for me? She refuses to go to sleep without it."

Boxy nodded and floated over to the mentioned bear. When he picked it up he noticed it was wearing a cape and had a symbol of a bat on its chest. "Phantom isn't this for a different hero?"

Danny rolled his eyes "Yeah Tucker thought it would be funny. He is apparently taking his role of godparent very seriously."

Danny put Ellie to sleep while Boxy watched like his life depended on it. They talked for about an hour longer. Boxy asked every question he could think of, Danny answering them as best he could. After a while Danny brought up the idea for Boxy to come along with Ember the next time she came to babysit. He readily agreed. Soon after that Danny opened a portal for Boxy to go through.

The next morning Danny woke up to his alarm clock. He turned it off quickly in hopes that it wouldn't wake up Ellie. To his relief all she did was roll over. He really didn't want to have to put her back to sleep, it usually made him late for work. The manager didn't mind, she had kids herself, but Danny still felt bad when it happened. He got changed into his uniform and grabbed his wallet. As he left his room he left the door open so Jazz would be able to hear when Ellie woke up. Walking to the kitchen he saw Jazz working on one of her papers. He honestly had no idea when she slept or how she stayed chipper and motivated through the day.

"Morning Jazz, I'll see you when I get done with work. Oh, and I have a few questions about my homework when I get back. The teacher explained it pretty well, but you can always explain it so I understand exactly." Danny said, then let out a tired yawn.

Jazz gave her brother a smile "No problem, but I have to take a test at six tonight so we'll have to be done by then."

"Since I worked a later shift last night I'll probably only have to work until two today. The time shouldn't be a problem. Well, as long as I don't get attacked by any ghosts today." He was silent for a moment before saying "I'm glad that you picked this hero city over some of the others. Flash is like the least observant hero of them al so I can get away with fighting ghosts in his town. God if you had gone to Gotham I would have been interrogated by the Bat after that first fight with Skulker."

A small scowl came on Jazz's face "For him being so fast physically and mentally he should be the most observant of them all, but he's not. Oh, how I would love to corner him and ask him some questions."

Danny paled slightly, Jazz's 'few questions' would end up being a full out psychological interrogation session. He should know, he's been on the end of those too many times to count. Then a small laugh escaped him as he remembered what happened last night. "Right talking about Flash being unobservant. I tripped him on my way home last night. I mean I was invisible and didn't see him coming, but I totally made him kiss the pavement."

Jazz's eyes went wide "Danny! You did what? You need to be more careful." She exclaimed.

Knowing that a lecture was coming, that he didn't have time for, he grabbed his house key quickly "Well look at the time. I got to go!"

As soon as Danny left the apartment building he blinked himself out of visibility. Morning people are a hassle and usually crabby. So, to make his life easier he usually just turns himself invisible until he gets to work. He was about to take the same route he took the night before, but then decided against it. There was a slight possibility that the Flash was looking for him. He did not need a second run in with the Flash in as many days. He was trying to keep himself on the down low, not draw attention to himself by tripping random heroes.

So instead of cutting thought the alleys he went around the building, taking the long way around. He had to be really careful not to bump into people. He didn't need rumors about a ghost, or even worse a new villain, going around. He walked three blocks out of his way until he finally turned towards the diner. As he turned the corner something blasted into him. This time he didn't just loose his balance briefly. He stumbled to the ground, one again getting knocked out of invisibility. He hit the ground hard and let out a groan of pain. OK, he hasn't expected that.

The other person let out a small groan "Oh come on! What are the odds I run into someone two days in a row?"

Danny's eyes went wide 'You've got to be kidding me!' Danny thought.

The Flash turned over to see who he ran into this time only to see the same boy from the day before. He jumped up and pointed at the boy "YOU!" he yelled and squinted his eyes.

Dany let out a sigh and simply collapsed fully on the ground. He closed his eyes and flung an arm over them. "I'm really not doing this on purpose. I promise." Danny said quietly.

"Dude why can I never see you coming? It's like your invisible or something."

Danny let out a low chuckle "I told you I don't have a presence." He said trying to keep up his cover story.


	4. Chapter 4

Danny gave a sigh of relief as he caught his balance. Now would be the worst time to fall as he was holding Ellie. Falling with Ellie could end very badly. The reason that his balance was thrown off, wasn't as lucky. Danny gave a dry look to the red clad man sprawled on the ground. He hadn't even been trying to trip him this time, plus he was actually visible. You would think the Flash would be able to regain his balance earlier. He had to admit tripping the Flash had become a really fun pastime for him the past few months. This particular time however he had been expressly trying to avoid the scarlet speedster. For the simple fact, he had Ellie with him. Danny let out a groan at his luck.

Flash let out a sigh "Hey Danny." He said in a resigned tone without even looking up. He had been tripped by the teen so many ties the past few months he didn't even have to wonder what tripped him anymore. If he wasn't in a battle and he tripped, it was Danny.

Danny was slowly backing away "Hey-a Flash. Nice seeing you, but I gotta go." He was on his way to bring Ellie to the zoo for the first time.

It was Ellie however who ruined the clean getaway. Her eyes lit up when she saw the Flash, "Zoom, zoom man!" she squealed excitedly.

Flash's head shot up at the sound of a child's voice. He got up to see Danny holding onto a tiny girl, who looked a lot like him.

Danny let out a resigned sigh and shifted Ellie on his hip "Yes it's the Zoom zoom man."

Flash gave him a deadpanned look "Zoom zoom man?" he asked in a whiny voice.

Danny left out a small laugh as he looked at his daughter "Yeah, she just started speaking a few months ago and 'Flash' isn't in her vocabulary quite yet. She knows zoom though."

"What's her name?" Flash asked. Besides Danny constantly tripping him the past few months, he actually considered him a friend of sorts. He had actually been convinced that Danny was a ghost that was haunting him. He had brought his suspicious to Batman. Batman had looked into hit and then told him to stop being frightened by a boy who was trying to mind his own business. Since Danny had been okayed by the Bat himself he let down his guard a bit around Danny. It was nice for him to talk to a person who didn't fan all over him.

"Her name's Ellie." Danny said, a slight blush on his face. He hadn't had to introduce his daughter too many times yet as they mainly stuck to themselves. It was still slightly awkward for him.

Flash sent a big smile to the little girl "Well hello there Ellie, it's nice to meet you." He looked toward Danny again "Is she your little sister?"

Danny cleared his throat as he looked at Ellie "Uh, no. she's not…"

"Is she your cousin then?" Flash asked again interrupting him.

"No, no. You see she's my…"

"Daddy, let's go." Ellie insisted, pulling on his arm sleeve.

Flash's eyes went wide "Wait, what? She's your daughter? How old are you?"

Danny gave a shrug "Eighteen in about a month. She was a… pleasant accident."

Flash stood there, staring at Danny in shock. The snarky and mouthy teen that kept constantly tripping him, was a father already?

"She is right though. I promised I would take her to the zoo today and I have to work tonight. So, if I wanna let her have some fun while we're there we have to get going now. See ya later Flash."

He turned around and started walking away with a wave "Well there you go Ellie, not even two years old and you met your first superhero."

Ellie let out a happy laugh as she snuggled in closer to her dad.

Before Danny knew it a month had passed and his birthday had gone by. He was now happily eighteen, legally an adult. His birthday had been a good day. Jazz had planned a small party for him. Sam and Tucker had come over and helped him celebrate. Valerie wanted to come but she had pervious plans to attend to. His dad had even sent him a present and a note apologizing for his behavior a year ago. He had also expressed an interest in meeting his granddaughter. On the other hand, he had gotten absolutely nothing from his mother and while that that made him sad, he couldn't exactly say it wasn't unexpected.

Today was actually his deathday and he had gotten a letter from Ember telling him to meet her at a house in Astral City. He was really curious about why, it was a bit more than a coincidence as that was the city he wanted to move to. Hopefully within the next year. Astral City was a good forty-five minutes away by car from Central City. As he had no car, and a taxi would be way too expensive, it looked like he would be flying to Astral City.

Since Jazz was away with a group of friends and Ember was who he was going to see; he would have to bring Ellie along with him. It was a good thing she liked to fly. He grabbed the harness carrier he and Jazz had made and put it on. He would be able to strap Ellie to his chest and be able to fly hands free. He packed a few things for Ellie into a backpack; a couple of toys, some snacks, and a couple juice boxes. He strapped Ellie in, put on the backpack, left a note for Jazz, and took off through the roof. He kept himself invisible until he was above the clouds. As he turned himself visible he let himself enjoy the flight. He hadn't been able to just go flying in a while. He always thought that flying was the best power he had gotten form becoming a ghost. Flying was always so calm and peaceful, and he always had a sense of freedom. He looked down at Ellie and a smile went across his face. Ellie had her eyes closed, a large smile on her face, and her arms outstretched wide. She loved flying just as much as he did.

Thirty-five minutes later he arrived in Astral City. Flying was always faster than driving. He turned himself invisible again and flew down so he could find the address he needed. It took him a while, but he finally found it. He landed in a spot he wouldn't be seen and turned human. Then he walked across the street to the house Ember wanted to meet up at.

Danny took a quick look at the house, it was actually a pretty nice house. It was a decent sized two-story house, that looked like it also had a basement. It was a white house with deep blue trim, a fenced in yard, and what seemed like a decent backyard. It was in a small neighborhood, not many other houses around, but friendly looking. All in all, he could not figure out why Ember would want to meet here, or how they were even meeting here.

Giving a shrug Danny walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. Seconds later Ember opened the door with a smile.

"Baby Pop you made it!" she said happily.

"Yeah, sorry if I'm late. It took me a bit to find the place. Why are we here Ember?" Danny asked.

A mysterious grin appeared on her face "You'll find out soon Baby Pop. For now, just come in and greet everyone that came out to help celebrate your Deathday."

"Fine, fine. How did everyone get here anyway?"

"We got together in the zone and Wulf portal-ed us though. He really is handy to have around."

Danny let out a chuckle as he started un-strapping Ellie from the harness, she was starting to get fidgety. As Danny moved into what was obviously supposed to be the living room of the unoccupied house he saw who had all came. Frostbite, Pandora, and Dora were talking to each other in the middle of the room. Boxy was off to the side with the Lunch lady, who was very much pregnant. He realized that she should actually be due soon. Wulf was sitting in a corner with Cujo laying on his lap. Even Amorpho and the ghost writer were here talking amongst everyone. He thought that was all of them until Desiree drifted into the room having a conversation with Youngblood.

"Wow, a lot of people showed up. More than I was expecting that is for sure." Danny said.

Danny's voice drew the attention of everyone in the room. Youngblood's eyes lit up when he saw Ellie. He had wanted to play with her for a while now. He met Danny's eyes "Can I?"

Danny looked at the hopeful look on Youngblood's face and let out a sigh as he set Ellie on the ground "Alright, but be careful. She's still not the steadiest on her feet."

"I'll be careful, promise!" he said excitedly and grabbed the now freed Ellie's hand and pulled her into another room so they had room to play.

Danny watched them go with a worried expression and Ember let out a laugh "Don't worry Baby Pop. Yeah Youngblood can get carried away while playing every once and a while, he knows when to be careful. There aren't many kids in his part of the zone so he doesn't get to play with other kids often. He won't waste this opportunity."

Danny nodded "Okay then. Now can someone please explain why we are here?"

"To celebrate your Deathday Great One!" Frostbit said cheerfully.

Danny dead-panned "Yeah I got that bit. No I mean this specific house; in a city I plan on moving to? How did you guys know this house would even be unoccupied?"

"This was actually the Box Ghost's idea." Pandora said, giving a tiny glare to Boxy. She was still a bit mad at the man for stealing her box.

Danny raised an eyebrow "Really?" that he wasn't expecting

Dora nodded "Yes he came around to us and explained what he wanted to do. We all agreed. We wanted to do something to express our appreciation."

"Some of us realize that you could have been a lot different to us than you are. We constantly interrupted your life, and you let us. We all know you have enough power that you could end any of us at any given time, but you never did. Or heaven forbid you could have ended up like Vlad." Desiree explained "No, what you did was stop us in the best way you could and sent us back home."

"You even helped some of us even more than necessary." The Lunch lady said with a smile, holding her belly.

"Yeah Baby Pop. You never had to let me perform concerts like I've always wanted. People aren't even forgetting me now." Ember rejoiced.

"You helped free me and my people from my abusive brother." Dora grinned.

"Vi helpas konservi Walker de mia pado Amiko." (You help keep Walker off my trail Friend.) Wulf said.

Cujo ran up to him chewing on his squeaky toy.

"You are helping me prepare for parenthood." Boxy said, a giant blush going across his cheeks.

"You defeated the evil king and helped restore peace to the zone Great One." Frostbite beamed.

"I… I don't get it." Danny said slowly looking around the room.

The Lunch Lady pushed her husband forward so he could explain.

"Well, I the Box Ghost, had an idea when I came to you house for the first time. Your room was so small, and empty. You expressed your wishes of coming here to go to the college thing. Since your Deathday was coming up I went around to your friends and allies and told them what I wanted to do for you."

Ember took over as she saw Boxy was having a hard time explaining "Listen Baby Pop. While you worked really hard at your job, it didn't exactly pay the best. You probably got to save up a bit, but not nearly enough for a house, school, and daily necessities. So, we all pooled in some money we've been saving up through the years and combined it together to buy you something. Baby Pop, this house that you are standing in is now completely yours. It's completely paid for and it runs completely paid for and it runs completely on ecto-energy. So, you won't have to worry about electricity bills. Technus figured everything out to make your electricity completely dependent on ecto-energy, like your old house was."

"We looked around for a while to find the right house, finally we found this one. It is decently close to both the college, and an elementary school for Ellie when the time comes. There is also a nice park a few blocks away. This is not too crowded and the neighbors are friendly." The Ghost writer said.

Amorpho took over "I was the one who looked at all of the houses, looking like you of course Danny. This one was definitely the best. It's a four room, two and a half bath. It has a big basement as I know you'll end up building a lab of your own. A large backyard for your daughter to play around in and it's fenced in so she can't just wonder off. Plus, I know Cujo has been sticking around you more often so the place will be big enough to hold your pet. Since the place is completely paid for and ours you can do what you like with it."

Danny was speechless, absolutely speechless. He had no idea what to say, or where to start. Tears formed in his eyes, "You guys…" he said slowly as he looked around the house in a new light "… really didn't have to do this."

Ember pulled him into a hug "We know we didn't, but we wanted to. Now you can use all that money you saved up for schooling and taking care of Ellie. Plus; you can build a portal down in the basement so any of us can visit anytime, and you won't have to strain yourself to create those portals all the time."

Danny looked at the room filled with is friends "Thank you. Seriously, all of you, thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me." He said as seriously as he could, he needed them to understand how happy they had just made him.

Ellie's and Youngblood's laughter drifted into the room and it brought a smile to Danny's face.

A smirk came to Ember's face "All right then. Enough of this sappy stuff. This is a party so let's get to partying." She turned on the music and everyone started talking amongst themselves once again.

Pandora made her way to Danny "Young warrior, I must congratulate you for your death day and your tiny warrior. I regret that I haven't been able to meet her until today, but I have been held up in my kingdom. Now I would like to give you some extra thanks, for getting me my box back. I haven't had the time to thank you properly for that. This is a large house to furnish so you may pick out whatever you'd like to furnish and decorate every room, even materials you will need to start your lab. I will pay for it all, I have an abundance of money I never have a need to use. My subjects bring it back from quests yet I have no need for human currency. So, it is yours"

Danny's jaw dropped "Really?" he asked. He wanted to say no, he really did. Yet, the logical part of him said to take what he was given as he could use all the help he could get. Especially with the lab materials, metal, wiring, and all the tools he would need would be extremely expensive. Danny sank into a low traditional bow as she had taught him in the past "Thank you very much Pandora. I am very grateful."

"No need for that young warrior, I am happy to help." Pandora said warmly before moving to talk to Desiree.

"You alright Baby Pop?" Ember asked.

"It's a lot to take in, and I didn't expect any of this. It's all so sudden, but yeah, I'm alright. More than alright actually, this is more than I could have ever wished for."

Ember smirked suddenly "Than I guess that now would be a bad time to tell you that Skulker totally tricked out your basement."

Danny looked at her with wide eyes "What do you mean?"

"It's like five times bigger than when it started out. It goes out under your backyard and a bit further. There is a false panel of wall down there that leads into the bigger underground base. Let's face it Baby Pop you are eventually going to get back into the hero business, don't kid yourself. Every super hero needs a secret base. Yours just so happens to be under your house. We figured if you didn't want to have your lab in the actual basement you could put it in the hidden one. I'm sure Ellie will bring friends home in the future."

Danny groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose "You guys are killing me, this is really too much. If I didn't know any better about deathday gifts I would demand to pay you all back. But I do know better and you guys would never let me. Let me do this for you though; I'll let you do two concerts a month if you want. As long as you still follow the rules. You've followed them so far and I trust you. You really have become one of my best friends Ember."

Ember gave him a smile "You too Baby Pop, and thanks I would love to do more concerts."

"What made Skulker want to do anything for me though?" Danny asked confused.

Ember sent him a smile "To be honest I think he misses hunting you every other day instead of every other week. So, his deathday gift to you was to get you closer to becoming a hero again." She chuckled out before drifting off to talk to Dora.

Danny went over to the Box Ghost "Hey Boxy. I just wanted to thank you, really. I don't know what made you think to do this for me but, honestly thank you."

Boxy fidgeted in place, he was obviously not used to somebody thanking him for something he did. "It was your room, it was so empty and it lacked any life. Your old room was so full of stuff and energy. You were helping me prepare four our baby and I wanted to help you. You seemed to want to come here so I helped. I did help, right?"

Danny let out a laugh "Yeah, you helped Boxy. Thanks."

Boxy beamed "You are very welcome Phantom. As I, The Box Ghost, have finished the task I've set before me I can now continue getting my cardboard revenge upon you!"

Danny smirked "Yeah, okay Boxy, you can sure try."

He looked around the house "Oh jeeze. Jazz is going to flip out when she hears this. It'll probably take a few weeks to get the house completely furnished and painted. Then I'll be able to move out of Jazz's apartment so she can get her office room back." Danny thought about himself.

Suddenly Cujo appeared in front of him. Cujo gave him a pleading look and Danny laughed.

"Alright Cujo, you can stay here with Ellie and me. Welcome to the family boy."

Cujo gave out a series of happy barks as he ran rapidly around Danny's feet, his tail wagging a million miles an hour.

He found the room Ellie was in and picked her up "Ellie, we're going to be keeping Cujo with us now. We're going to live here now, what do you think of that?"

Ellie threw her hands up "Yay! Puppy!" she giggled out.

Danny put Ellie back down so she could continue playing with Youngblood and now Cujo. Yeah, he would be happy here. Ellie would love all of the extra space to play. He would have a couple of extra rooms so people could stay over whenever they wanted.

As he headed back to the living room he realized he didn't have much to do to finalize things here. He had to pack up his stuff at Jazz's which wouldn't take long as he didn't have much. He would have to give his two-week notice in at work. He'd have to buy everything needed for his new house, curtesy of Pandora. And finally, he would have to say goodbye to the Flash who had become a decent friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay first of all I'm really sorry about the long break in between chapters. I am having MAJOR writers block in all of my stories. This story goes out to the guest Voldemort who commented me many times to update.**

 **Terra: I'm glad you like my story! To answer your one question no, no Ellie will never stop saying Zoom Zoom man. It is her own little nick name for the scarlet speeder. To answer another one of your questions when I get reviews I don't get an email or anything. If I want to see if anyone reviewed I have to go back to my stories and read through the reviews.**

 **Voldemort: Okay, you are by far my favorite reviewer. To sooth your worries no I am not sick nor am I or anybody in my family hurt. Like I said I have extremely bad writers block. Plus, I've been reading a lot of fanfiction myself. Though all of your reviews lent me motivation to keep writing a little more each day. Sorry this one isn't as long as the other ones though. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Duskrider: It took me a little while to figure out how Danny would get his own house, but I like what I finally came up with as well. I always thought that when Danny wasn't actively fighting his enemies he was really rather friendly with them. You will find out about Box Lunch's godparents not in this chapter, but the next one!**

 **I don't own anything!**

Danny walked into his house with a big dopey smile on his face. Life was better than it ever has. The fact that his hair was smoking slightly hardly even fazed him. He quickly made his way down to the basement and used the handprint lock to open up the door to the secret basement, which Tucker had proudly nicknamed the Lair. He had finished building a brand-new portal to the zone two months after he finished moving in. The ghosts had not hesitated in coming through. He hadn't been sure about building a portal at first. He had really thought out the pros and cons of building the portal.

With the pros of building it he would have easy access to the zone. While having the ability to pen small temporary portals to the zone was neat, it took a lot of power from him. The power was one he developed in necessity. At first, he thought he devolved the power to be able to send ghosts back. He learned that it was more than that. His ghost side needed a consistent supply of pure ectoplasm or he started getting sick and weak. When he still lived back in Amity his parent's house was saturated with enough that he never noticed. He would also be able visit his friends and allies in the zone easier.

There were also many cons though. If he built the portal in the Lair, ghosts would come through. In Astral City, they knew nothing of ghosts. He would be putting this town through the same things Amity went though. It would also be putting Ellie in potential danger.

In the end, however, the pros won out over the odds. To his surprise the town took to Phantom extremely well. The Mayor was slightly wary of him at first. After his first bi fight with Skulker the Mayor changed his mind about him. To be honest fighting ghosts took a huge weight off his chest to be Phantom again. Every time he ignored all the crisis's in Central City he felt a small pang in his core.

His obsession was helping people, keeping people safe. His more immediate obsession was keeping his friends and family safe. He couldn't really do much for Jazz, Sam, or Tucker however as none of them lived in the same city as him. Jazz still lives in Central City. Surprising him Tucker and Sam had started dating at the end of junior year. So, to spite her parents Sam had moved to Gotham city and Tucker moved with her. Danny had had a brief panic attack about them moving somewhere so dangerous. She reminded him that she was completely capable of taking care of herself and Tucker. His core had eventually calmed down enough to agree with her. Tucker was working as an apprentice at a Wayne Inc. building, one of the tech departments. They had been so interested with him, they were even paying for his college as long as he stayed on with the apprenticeship. Sam was going to college for a Botany major. Both Sam and Tucker visit quite often to Danny's joy as he was a bit reluctant to bring his daughter to Gotham of all places.

Ellie absolutely adores her Aunt Sam and Uncle Tucker. Sam loves spending the money her parents insist on sending her to completely spoil Ellie. Tucker is Ellie's favorite babysitter, though Ember comes a close second. Gotham is only a twenty-minute drive from Astral City and Tucker is always more than happy to watch his goddaughter. He usually brought gifts that Sam bought for Ellie, and sometimes Danny himself.

Danny, Ellie, and Cujo have been living in Astral City for a little over a year now. In fact, Ellie's birthday was coming up and Danny was planning a birthday party. He couldn't believe that his baby girl was going to be turning three already. He was trying to figure out all who to invite. Tucker, Sam, and Jazz were all obviously invited. Frostbite, Ember, Youngblood, and Dora were automatic invites. While Sam and Tucker were her human godparents, Frostbite and Dora were her ghost godparents. At the time, he was finding ghostly godparents he hadn't had his truce with Ember yet otherwise he probably would have picked her. Dora was a very good godparent though, and was Frostbite; both were extremely honored when he had asked them. He should probably invite the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady, they could bring Box Lunch. Box Lunch was almost one-year-old already. He would also send an invite to Pandora, though he doubted she would come. Pandora was usually really busy with her kingdom. Though he did find out at his last death day party that Pandora had a daughter herself, Pyrrha. She was a very pretty little girl with fiery red hair and bright emerald eyes. She was constantly in the form a twelve-year-old just as Youngblood was always in the form of an eight-year-old. So maybe there was a chance that Pandora would come, and bring along her daughter. The one person he couldn't decide to invite or not was Valerie Gray.

Valerie had been a huge surprise for him. She was going to Astral Tech for college same as him. She was studying for business and staying at the college dorms. They had both been extremely happy and excited to see each other when classes started last year. It was nice for Danny to rekindle his friendship with Val, as he hadn't been able to say goodbye the day he left Amity. After a few months of him juggling school, Ellie, and ghost hunting Val approached him. She told him watching him fight the ghosts again had made her trigger happy to help. Plus, with her suit literally connected to her DNA she couldn't exactly separate from it. She wanted to team up with him and help him control the ghosts. Danny had agreed with a smile and a promise from her to not point her ecto-guns at him. She had laughed and agreed to the promise. Val had come a long way from her completely one-track mind of viewing ghosts. She now knew which ghosts were friendly and how to not always shoot first. So, she officially became the second superhero for Astral City as they became partners; Phantom and Red Huntress. It was still extremely awkward for Danny to be viewed as a superhero, it was almost completely agreed in the town that Phantom and Red Huntress were good. It was even starting to become more widely known about the situation in Astral city, outside of the city limits. Good news was that no evil ghost hunters had showed their hands.

He wanted to invite Val to the party. Even though he spent a good amount of time together with her; it was usually out of the house, either ghost hunting or studying. All together they were extremely good friends. In fact, Danny would go as far as saying she was one of his best friends. In other words, Ellie hasn't been around Val much and he wasn't sure if Ellie liked Val or not. The few times he had her over Ellie would stick close to him and just stare at Val. She has never done anything like that to anyone else so he wasn't sure what to do. Then again Val was the first new person Ellie had ever really met. Everyone else that was usually around her were the same people that's been around since he got her.

Danny let out a sigh and sent the ecto-pus he had caught back to the zone. He set the thermos down and left the Lair. He decided that he would invite Val, there would be enough people around to keep Ellie's attention. Plus, Youngblood would be there and they loved playing together. Mind made up he walked back upstairs so he could see Ellie.

He walked into Ellie's room to see Tucker on the floor with her, both playing with dolls. A smirk came over Danny's face "Never pictured you playing with the dolls type, Tuck."

Tucker sent a small shrug at him, not stopping and seemingly not caring "She used the puppy dog eyes Dude. You know I'm weak to the puppy dog eyes, and so does she. Plus, Sam called me to say she just bought a bunch of new dolls for her and she wanted me to deliver them. Did you get the ghost all right?"

Tucker had come over with the deliver from Sam when Danny's ghost sense went off. Danny gave a nod as he sat down next to the two of them, Ellie immediately pushed a doll into his hand.

"Yeah, no problem at all. It was just a regular ecto-pus, didn't even have to call Val in for back-up. The little bugger was fast though. That's the only reason it took me so long." Danny explained.

Tucker gave a grin as Ellie let out a long yawn. "Looks like it's time for somebody's bedtime."

Ellie immediately pouted "NO! Daddy just got back. I wanna pway!"

Danny shared a look with Tucker, it was Friday and they already had plans for the weekend. "Okay we could do that. Or we could go to sleep now and tomorrow we can go back to Central City for the weekend and visit Auntie Jazz."

Ellie's eyes lit up and she sprinted to her bed and practically dived under the covers, clutching one of her new dolls. Then a small frown came over her face as she looked around. "Where's Batbear?"

Danny quickly looked around before spotting a cape peeking out from under her bed. He reached under and pulled out the missing batman merchandise. He handed it over to his daughter, "Here you go baby girl, Batbear was just enjoying his own batcave. Sleep well Ellie-Bellie."

"Night Daddy." Ellie said before snuggling under her covers with Batbear and her new doll.

Tucker and Danny made their way down to the living room.

"This is your first time going back to Central City, isn't it? Jazz usually comes down here to visit." Tucker asked.

Danny nodded as he pulled his homework out "Yeah, it's finally settled down enough here that I can leave. Val will have things handled for a few days."

Tucker was fidgeting in his seat "Can I please come with you? You need to introduce me to the Flash. All you have to do is trip him again, like old times. Please, please, please, please, please!"

Danny deadpanned as he looked over to Tucker, "Really? That's why you want to come along?"

"Well I also want to spend time with Ellie of course. I heard that she really liked the zoo in Central City so I totally plan on taking her there so you can spend some time with Jazz. But Dude, the Flash! He is like my favorite superhero out there. I just want a picture… and an autograph." Tucker asked with a pleading tone to his voice.

Finally, Danny let out a small laugh "Fine, fine. It's been a while since I've gotten to trip the Flash. To be honest I've kinda missed it." A thoughtful look crossed his face "It's been over a year. I wonder if he even remembers me. Huh, guess we'll find out."

Tucker's eyes lit up with joy and practically flung himself at Danny. "Thank you! You are the best friend I could ever ask for! You are the best Danny, the best!"

Danny simply rolled his eyes and nodded his head at his friends' antics.

The next afternoon found the group of three in Central City. Tucker had Ellie sitting on his shoulders. Both had giant grins on their faces. The three were currently in a park that had nobody around. Danny sighed and looked around trying to feel where the Flash was at the moment, if he was even out. That was the reason Danny got so many opportunities to trip the Flash when he lived with his sister. He could feel if the Flash was near, almost like an extension of his ghost sense. He had a theory it had to do something with the speed force being close to the ghost zone. A small grin came over his face when he realizes he could feel the Flash coming this way. Danny gave a small nod to Tucker, who's grin grew even wider, and stepped into the line of the Flash. Danny made sure one last time that nobody was around before turning invisible. Within the next few seconds the Flash was seen sprawling to the ground, despite trying his best to gain his balance. The Flash tumbled a few times before coming to a stop.

The Flash's eyes went wide as he realized what happened. He quickly spun around to see Danny standing there with a smirk on his face. Danny gave him a small wave, "Danny!" Flash said, a grin coming to his face. Despite everything Flash had actually missed his chats with Danny. He was one of the few people who would talk to him like he was a normal person instead of freaking out over his very appearance. While he usually loves the attention, it's nice to have a person who doesn't fawn over him.

"Hey Flash, it's been a while. How've you been?" Danny said with a smile.

"Same old, same old. What are you doing here?" Flash asked.

Danny gave a shrug, "Visiting my sister for the weekend. Plus, one of my friends really wanted to meet you." He said pointing a finger over his shoulder to Tucker, who basically had stars in his eyes.

Flash looked over to where Danny was pointing. He saw Danny's daughter, Ellie if he remembered correctly, sitting on the shoulders of an African American boy the same age as Danny. The boy was obviously a fan of his.

Tucker took Ellie off his shoulders and handed her over to Danny. Then he made his way to the Flash. "Oh, my Clockwork, I am so happy to meet you Flash. My name is Tucker Foley and I am a huge fan. Can I please get a photo with you?"

Danny let out a chuckle at Tucker's introduction "Smooth." Danny mumbled sarcastically. He winced inwardly at Tucker's slip of Clockwork's name, that would make Flash curious. He set Ellie on the ground and started playing patty cake with her. It would be a while until Tucker was finished fanboying over the Flash.

The Flash put on a smile and then suddenly appeared next to Tucker "Sure! I love making time for my fans."

Tucker suppressed his fanboy squeal and quickly took a bunch of selfies with his phone, "Thanks Flash! This is great. A picture with my second favorite superhero."

A pout came over Flash's face "Second favorite? Who's your first favorite? I bet its superman isn't it. It's always superman."

A devious smile appeared on Tucker's face as he glanced at Danny. Danny feeling eyes on him turned his head to look at his best friend. Danny narrowed his eyes, silently telling him to shut up. Tucker wouldn't hear it though as he turned back to Flash.

"Oh yeah, my first favorite is totally Phantom." He said with a grin as Danny was glaring at him. "Always has and always will be." Tucker finished with a smile.

"Phantom!" Ellie squealed excitedly as she hugged her dad before running off to play with a small ball that Danny had brought with them

Flash sighed as he looked at Danny "Am I still Zoom Zoom Man?"

Danny let out a genuine laugh "Yeah you are. She's able to say Flash no problem now, but for some reason the only thing she'll call you is Zoom Zoom man." Danny scratched the back of his head "We're working on it."

Then a look of confusion came over Flash's face "Wait a minute. Who's Phantom?"

Tucker's eyes glinted with glee as Danny groaned silently "Phantom is a ghost fighting hero. He used to be based in Amity Park. Now he is currently protecting Astral city with his partner Red Huntress. He protects the citizens with every ounce of his ability and when he stared out her was only fourteen. How dedicated is that?" Tucker explained, with a grin on his face. He knew that Danny was doing his best to stay under the radar, but Tucker really wanted to see his best friend be acknowledged by other. While he was a lot better appreciated in Astral city than he was in Amity Park he still wanted more for Danny. Danny spent so much time and effort into protecting everyone, gave up so much in his life since he was fourteen, he deserved some credit by the other heroes. The Flash was a good start to it, he seemed to be really open to most things. Plus, he had an almost friendly relationship with his villains, almost like the relationship Danny had with his villains. Having the Flash meet Phantom would be a great idea.

Danny however did not share his point of view. "Oh, Phantom isn't really all that. I think that he just likes helping people out, but likes the quiet life of being unnoticed."

Danny could see that his words wouldn't mean anything as he saw curiosity burning in Flash's eyes. He sent Tucker a glare before turning to call Ellie back to him. The moment he turned to where Ellie was though all he saw was open grass. His eyes went wide with panic before he heard her giggle coming from somewhere behind him. He whipped around to see Ellie clinging to the leg of a very surprised Flash.

She was beaming a smile up at him "Zoom zoom man!" she said happily and clung to the superhero.

"Woah! Where did you come from little one?" he asked as he picked her up. Ellie giggled happily and hugged Flash around the neck, "I didn't even notice her. Looks like she got that ability from you Danny."

Danny laughed nervously, "Haha, yeah. She's a sneaky one. As soon as she's been stable on her feet she's given me more heart attacks than one would think possible." Danny looked over to see Tucker about to say something, most likely something else about Phantom. So Danny quickly said, "Well my sister is expecting us soon, so we should get going."

Tucker pouted at Danny's obvious deflection of the topic. Hopefully what he had said already would prompt Flash to go check it out. Danny walked over to Flash and pried his daughter off of Flash's neck.

"Maybe we'll see you around sometime more this weekend. Until then, Flash have a good day." He started walking away with Ellie in his arms. Ellie was waving goodbye to Flash happily. "Come on Tucker, you've never been to Jazz's. Don't want you to get lost on me now."

"Come on Uncle Tucker, we gunna see Auntie Jazzy!" Ellie called out.

Knowing he was defeated Tucker let out a sigh "Okay, okay. I'm coming Ellie, Uncle Tuck's coming." He turned to the Flash "It really was nice to meet you Flash. Yo, Danny wait up dude. It's not cool leaving behind the best Godfather in the world behind. Danny!" Tucker yelled out as he ran after Danny who was laughing at Tucker's attempts to catch up to him. Ellie was calling out to her uncle, laughing gaily all the way.

Flash looked after the small family walk/run away and a small happy smile came over his face. He was really happy that Danny was still doing well. He had been slightly worried when his friend told him that he was moving away. Danny was so young and he already had a daughter to take care of. Then his mind drifted to what Danny's friend had said. This Phantom fellow, he was situated in Astral city. That was the city that Danny had moved to. Worry for his friend made its way into his mind. Maybe he would have to check up on this Phantom hero in Astral.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny floated awkwardly in place. His day had been going fantastically up until ten minutes ago. He blamed his day going downhill entirely on Tucker. He just had to open his big mouth to the Flash two weeks ago, going on about Phantom. Now he had to deal with Batman. Batman of all people! He really wasn't entirely sure what to do. He had never been bothered by another hero before. Not once while working in Amity for four years had other heroes even known that he existed. He had also been working in Astral for almost a year already, not once had he been contacted by another hero. Now Tucker opens his mouth and he is confronted by the dark hero of Gotham himself.

He looked down at Ellie in his arms as she stared at Batman with stars in her eyes. He shifted his hold on his daughter before deciding to put her on his shoulders. Just as a precaution, in case he had to use his hands. He didn't think that Batman was here to fight, but he really wasn't sure. Better safe than sorry. He did keep hold of one of her legs though. She usually stays on his shoulders by herself, but she does get squirmy sometimes.

He turned his attention back on the Bat standing in front of him, after settling Ellie on his shoulders. His mind wandered to the day prior to ten minutes ago.

 _Ember had shown up early to babysit. Danny had finally gathered up his courage to ask Valerie to be his girlfriend. They had gone on a couple of 'dates' before, but they had been more as friends. He had been so happy when she had simply laughed and said, "Took you long enough to ask Goofball." They had spent the rest of the day together before Val had to go home to finish up some homework. She had an essay due the next day for her English class. Danny had then decided to patrol for a bit. Which was when he had run into Batman, almost literally._

 _Once Danny had realized that The Batman was in his town and standing in front of him, Danny had frozen eyes wide. Batman must have noticed that Danny needed a moment to come to terms with his situation as they simply stared at each other for a few minutes. As the point it seemed that Batman was going to say something Danny's ghost sense went off._

 _Danny's head had snapped to the direction the ghost was coming from. He had practiced and learned to hone his sense a few months back. He could now tell which direction the ghosts were coming from instead of just vaguely knowing they were in the area. It had taken about a month of constant sneak attacks from Boxy for him to get a grip on the power. His eyes went wide as he saw Ember flying toward him with his three-year-old daughter. She had a slightly panicked look on her face._

 _Ember completely ignored the black clad hero, and quickly handed Ellie off to her father, "Listen Dipstick, you gotta take your kid back. Kitty showed up in a total rage. She saw Johnny talking to Desiree and she thinks that he's cheating, again. I swear that girl, like Johnny would ever cheat on her. He adores her. Anyway, she's currently throwing a tantrum in your living room. So, if you want a house when you get back I gotta split. I'll be back on Saturday to babysit Baby pop." She gave him a cheeky salute before flying off, "See ya."_

Which brought him right back to the present.

Ellie leaned around her dad's head and asked innocently, "Are we gunna need a new couch again Daddy?"

Danny let out a long sigh and ran his free hand through his hair, "Probably pumpkin. What color do you want this time?" he had to go through so many couches that he let his daughter have some fun picking out the colors of them. He knew that he was currently ignoring Batman, which was extremely rude, but he needed a bit more time to come to terms with the situation. Now that his daughter was here with him, things were different.

Ellie thought for a moment before a bright grin appeared on her face "Green!"

"You got it sweetie, we'll go get the new couch tomorrow."

"Yay!" she squealed and threw her arms up. Then her attention got drawn back to Batman as she seemed to forget that he had been there, "Batman, Batman! Daddy look its Batman!" she excitedly giggled. He saw her pointing at the black clad hero, bouncing up and down on his shoulders with what he was sure a large smile on her face.

He gripped her leg a bit tighter, he did not need her sliding off, "Yes, it is sweetie. Sit still on Daddy's shoulders please, I don't want you to fall."

"Okay." She said happily and immediately stopped bouncing. Though knowing his daughter, she was still staring excitedly at Batman.

Danny looked back at Batman, "Sorry." He apologized for ignoring him for a bit. It was obvious Gotham's hero had come for a reason, but now that Ellie was out here with him he had to head back home. It wasn't smart for Ellie to be seen with him as Phantom, "I should probably head home… uh, make sure Kitty didn't destroy too much for it. The couch is a lost cause, it's the first thing they always destroy."

"Your villains know where you live?" Batman asked with a frown, glancing at the tiny girl on Phantom's shoulders.

Danny rubbed the side of his head, slightly embarrassed, "Well, uh, yeah. They actually bought it for me. To be honest it would be weird if they didn't know where it was."

Batman must have realized that Danny was about to leave as he growled out, "I'm not done here."

Danny frowned, that much was obvious. Practically all they had done was stare at each other. They hadn't spoken to each other barely at all. What exactly was Batman here for? He a pretty strong hunch that this had to do something with Tucker telling the Flash that Phantom existed. While normally talking to Batman would probably be scary but cool, just as cool as talking with Flash was. While talking to Flash he had been as a civilian, but if he stayed and talked to Batman it would be hero to hero.

He wasn't sure if Batman, or anyone else in the Justice League, saw him as a hero. Both the GIW and the Justice League were both part of the government. While it hasn't been put in effect yet, the GIW were actively fighting to push through the anti-ecto act bill. He wasn't sure it the League was for or against the act. If the act went through the simple act of going outside as Phantom would be illegal. When Ellie comes into her powers she would be hunted as well, and it would be completely legal.

Tucker hacks into their systems constantly, to keep watch of it's progress. If it went too close to going through he would send out anonymous tips to certain people to push the notion back once again. Tucker's favorite reporters to send it to were Clark Kent and Louis Lane, they always seemed to deal with risky content stories. So far, the method has worked rather well. He honestly wasn't too sure how much longer Tucker could keep the bill back though. That was another reason he was hesitant to talk to Batman much longer, if at all. While it would be entertaining to talk to another hero, when they knew he was a hero… were the risks worth it?

He looked back down at Ellie, her question coming back to mind. He looked to Batman, who obviously had come for a reason and wanted to talk to him. He had a secret identity to protect, a daughter to protect. He looked Batman in the eyes, "I'm really sorry. I just… have too much to protect. I, I can't." he couldn't stay here and talk to him, he just couldn't.

He was about to turn invisible and take off towards home when Batman's voice stopped him, "Another member of the League has brought concerns of Astral City to me He was going to check it out himself, but his villains started acting up so he asked me to look into it." He said.

Danny flinched slightly, "The Flash, right?" at Batman's nod he continued "There really isn't any need for him to worry. Red Huntress and I have everything under control here."

"He is worried about the safety of his friend that lives here, Daniel Fenton."

Danny schooled his reaction the best he could and resigned himself to staying here for a few minutes. He let out a small sigh and decided to distract Ellie before she got bored. He formed a small ball of ectoplasm and had it start floating around his and Ellie's heads. Ellie let out a laugh of glee, she loved playing with the glowing balls, and started trying to catch it from her perch on his shoulders. He turned his full attention back to Batman and said as calmly as he could, "Danny Fenton… yeah, he makes weapons to help my partner and I fight the ghosts."

Even though he couldn't see it he could practically feel Batman raise an eyebrow at him, "Then why does Fenton's daughter call you dad?" he asked bluntly.

Danny let out a long sigh as he listened to Ellie's gleeful laughter, "You know?"

Batman gave a nod "Daniel James Fenton. Nineteen years old. Son of Madeline and Jack Fenton, brother of Jasmine Fenton. Father of Danielle Jasmine Fenton, mother unknown. Previous guardian of Amity, current protector of Astral. Also known as Phantom. You are partners with Red Huntress, also known as Valerie Gray. You used to be enemies, now you work together."

Danny was stunned, he hadn't expected him to just name off facts, "How did you…"

"I've known a few weeks after you first tripped Flash. He thought he was being haunted." Batman interrupted.

Danny blushed, his face tinting green. Well, Flash hadn't been wrong exactly "Well, uh… the first two times were on complete accidents in my defense. After that he just made it way too easy." A worried look appeared on his face, "Does Flash know about me?"

Batman shook his head, "No. He asked me to look into Phantom, as he was worried about his friend Danny. Ironic on his part really. The only people who know about you are Agent A and myself."

Danny raised an eyebrow in question, "Agent A?"

"My butler." He answered with a smirk.

"Of course Batman has a butler." He let out an almost hysterical laugh. This was not how this night was supposed to end. When he had finally gathered his courage to ask Val out he didn't plan on having that courage tested by being face to face with Batman. Danny felt his energy drain, this was a loosing battle to avoid talking to Batman. "Fine, we can talk. Just not here. I don't want to be seen out with Ellie." He sighed out. "I'm assuming you have a device I can put coordinates in?"

He felt Batman raise an eyebrow again. He dug into his belt and pulled out a sleek phone. It was obviously very expensive, advanced, and durable. Though Danny had seen many of Tucker's home built tech so he wasn't phased much. Tucker's tech was probably just as advanced, it just didn't look as expensive. Danny took the phone and quickly put in the coordinates.

"Here you go. Meet me at those coordinates" he flashed Batman a grin "See ya there."

He then promptly turned himself and Ellie invisible and took off towards his house. He had given Batman the coordinates to the backdoor to the lair. It wasn't like Batman would want to walk through the front door, plus Danny himself would have to answer a few questions of why Batman was going into his house. The entrance was in the woods a few miles from his house. From there he was able to take the specter speeder out if need be. He hadn't had to use it as of yet, but it was better to be prepared. It had taken a month-long truce with Technus to be able to get it done as quickly as it had been. He would meet Batman there in the speeder and bring him back to the house that way. After he got Ellie settled, and called Val. He had a feeling that she needed to be here for the upcoming conversation.

In the next half hour Val, Ellie, and himself were sitting across from Batman in his now destroyed living room. Ember had been right Kitty really had thrown a tantrum. Ellie was sitting on the floor, working hard on drawing a picture. Val had come over instantly when he called her and told her what had happened during patrol. She had watched Ellie while he went to pick up Batman in the speeder. Valerie was currently glaring at Batman, she didn't trust him. She was scared that he might be against ghosts just like the GIW were. She didn't want her boyfriend taken away, not when they had just become a couple again. If worse came to worse she knew that Danny would want her to go to emergency protocol three. She would grab Ellie and make their escape to the Zone while Danny gave them time. Batman would know about Jazz, and Sam and Tucker live in Gotham so protocol one and two would be out of the question. She could lock down the portal behind her and make their way to Frostbite's or Dora's.

Danny on the other hand was really nervous himself, he didn't think Batman was here for nefarious purposes. He honestly seemed to just want to talk, about what he had no idea though. Of course the first time he talks to one of the other heroes, as a hero himself, it would be in his destroyed living room. Kitty had really totaled the place. The couch had a large burnt hole in the middle of it. He would need a new TV as well, his now had a crack going through the entire thing. He realized he might need to repaint the walls once again, there were finally enough scorch marks littering the walls. He let out a sigh, very happy that Pandora had given him large sum of money. Pandora had practically adopted him as her son, he even viewed her as a mother figure. At first, he was extremely leery about taking money from someone. He didn't want to be dependent someone else for the rest of his life. He had a daughter and he wanted to be the one to provide for her. Pandora had told him that she would be honored to give her warrior son money until his business took off. So, he had gotten a good chunk of gold that he converted into money and set himself up with a bank account. He did his best not to use it too much though. A good amount he used for setting up his lab and for replacing things that the ghosts broke or destroyed when they came over. Anything that he needed for himself or Ellie he tried to use little bit of money his business made from the weapons that the town bought. They hadn't boughten much but there were quite a few people who had gotten specter deflectors. The school and the city hall had also invested in ghost shields to protect the kids and the mayor.

"What do you want Batman?" Valerie asked sharply, pulling Danny out of his thoughts. Ellie looked up briefly at the cold tone of Val's voice but promptly ignored it and went back to her drawing.

Batman nodded, right down to business. "I am mostly here as a professional curtesy to the Flash to appease his fears. However, I would also like to discuss with you on getting some anti-ghost tech. So far you have done a good job on keeping the ghosts in this single town, but I like to prepare for the worst-case scenario. I would like to make a deal with Fenton Tech to get some ghost tech."

Danny looked at Batman with wide eyes. Batman wanted to sign a contract with his business? That was the last thing that he had been expecting when he saw Batman tonight. "You, you want to sign a contract with me?" his doubts kicked in and he couldn't stop himself from saying, "My parents have been doing this longer."

Batman looked at the teen sitting before him, unsure of himself. This kid was taking a lot on very quickly. From his files on Fenton he was nineteen, almost twenty. He had a three-year-old daughter who he had custody of for the past two years. He couldn't find who the kid's mother was, or where she had been for the first year of her life. He was assuming with the mystery mother. He was going to college to get his mastery for engineering and he was barely a year into that. He also had the duties of protecting this town from the ghosts that invaded it daily.

"Your parents don't have the best interest of everyone at heart. I have been watching things over the past year here and I can safely say that your parent's thesis on ghosts are wrong. The ghosts do feel; emotions and pain. They can even have children as I saw with your box ghost. Your parent's inventions have a tendency to end up being a bit too deadly. Yours are more based on defense and containment. It's is your company I want to sign with, under the radar of course."

Danny nodded as he stood up and made his way towards his office, "Right then, let me grab one of the contracts." The contracts had been written up by a combination of Tucker, Sam, the Ghostwriter, and Desiree. They were basically foolproof, no loopholes to be found. In simple terms they said that once they signed they could only get ghost tech from him. Not that there were many competitors out there, but better safe than sorry. His parents were still in the business and so was Vlad, though he has been completely silent for the past two years. There were a few others, but there were not as advanced as his were. The contract also stated that if they did anything illegal with the products he had the right to take back all of his inventions with no questions asked. They also couldn't tamper with his tech as ectoplasm could be dangerous if one didn't know how to handle it. The last important thing was they couldn't sell it to third parties. The contract had other details in it but those were the most important parts.

As Danny left to get the contract Val decided to investigate her own fears. Batman didn't seem to against ghosts, but did he know about the anti-ecto acts? If he was against the acts maybe he could bring it up with the League and end the bill for once and for all. The League was a new thing, only a year old or so, but they had a pretty good pull with the government already. Especially with Superman on the team.

"Do you know about the GIW?" she asked bluntly, trying to get right to the point before Danny got back. She knew that Danny wanted help, but he wasn't the type of person to actually ask for help.

Batman turned to Valerie and nodded his head, "I came across them when I was researching Phantom. The articles that are published by the daily prophet are rather incriminating as well."

"If you know about all that then I'm sure you know about the anti-ecto acts. If that act gets passed then Danny himself would be illegal. If they caught him they could do anything to him and it would be completely legal. Those acts are trying to pass that ghosts are even lower than animals and don't deserve any rights. That act cannot pass."

"I will look deeper into it. If worse comes to pass the League will take it on as a mission. I know there are a few that are very against the bill. Danny has allies in high places without even knowing it. That bill will never be passed through if I have anything to say."

Val nodded lowering her guard finally, her fears appeased. Danny was safe from the League at least. A few minutes later Danny came back with the contract. Batman read it over and they made a few changes to suite the dark knight's needs but eventually he did sign it. Danny promised to keep the contract confidential; only Valerie and himself would know about it.

As Batman was getting ready to leave Ellie jumped up and held out the picture she had been working so hard on. It was crudely drawn, as she was only three, but it was clearly a picture of her and Batman together. There were hearts and rainbows in the background that clashed with the dark knight and had Danny trying to keep his laughter in. Batman accepted the artwork before following Danny back into the Lair. As Danny opened up the doors to the backdoor Batman left with a gruff, "I'll be in touch." Before disappearing into the tunnel.

A month later Danny and Valerie nearly had a heart attack when there was a knock on the door and Bruce Wayne himself was standing on the doorstep wanting to sign a contract with Fenton Tech as well. He wanted to see if the tech could be used to help the general population in any way. Danny had been hesitant at first but Valerie slapped him on the back of his head and accepted in his place. She was co-owner of the business now anyway. She was focusing on the business side of it while Danny focused on making new tech. They were working on saving up to buy a building to use strictly for the business. The public contract with Bruce Wayne and the confidential contract with Batman bumped their money to finally buy the building they had their eyes on. Things were looking up for the small family.

Two months later after signing on with Wayne Inc. found the family chilling in the backyard. Danny was hosting a playdate day. Ellie was looking forward to it, all her friends were coming over for the whole day. Boxlunch was already over, Lunch lady having dropped her daughter off earlier that morning. Boxlunch was spending the night over with them. Danny was actually excited having Boxlunch over, he had been wanting to spend more time with her. Boxy had named Danny as Boxlunch's godfather, which had surprised Danny to no end. Boxlunch's godmother was Ember, she had been shocked as well when Boxy had asked as well.

Danny was in Phantom form, having just come back from grabbing a few ecto-pusses that had been causing havoc. He had Ellie in one arm and Boxlunch in the other. Valerie was standing in front of him, holding a very excitable Cujo. The little dog had been over hyper since early this morning. Tucker and Danny had worked together on making a camo collar for Cujo so he could go outside all he wanted. The collar only worked on his small form and made him look like a mix between a bulldog and a boxer. The green dog now looked mostly brown and he loved being able to go outside without people being afraid of him. It obviously didn't work when he transformed into his larger form, but he was getting better at not transforming whenever he got angry. Danny was super proud of the little puppy.

Suddenly Danny's phone rang and he looked down at it in confusion, since he was in Phantom form the phone he had on him was dedicated to his hero business. He looked over at Val who actually had a free hand and gave her his best puppy dog face.

She laughed as she adjusted Cujo in her arms, "Fine, you big baby. I'll answer your phone for you."

"Thanks honey, you're the best." Danny grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes and dug into Phantom's belt to grab the ringing phone. "Red Huntress speaking, who is this?" she lowered her voice slightly as that is how her voice sounds when she has her suit activated, which she didn't have on at the moment. She had been watching the kids and dog when Danny went to take care of the ghosts.

"This is Batman, prepare yourselves." Was her only answer before he hung up.

She looked at Danny, a question in her eyes. She stuck the phone into her pocket for now before saying, "When did you give Batman your number?"

Danny looked at her in shock, "I didn't. How did he get my number?" then Danny sighed, "Well he is Batman, is there anything he can't do?"

Valerie snorted in amusement, "Give a straight answer? He said to prepare ourselves, what does that mean?"

Danny started saying, "I don't kn…" before a blue light surrounded all of them promptly cutting him off. Danny held onto the two kids a bit tighter, not wanting to risk anything with whatever was happening. He was hoping this was nothing bad, maybe it had to do with Batman? Clockwork, he hoped so, if this was a new weapon by one of his enemies he was going to make them regret it. Not only was he holding onto his daughter for the moment but he also had his goddaughter in his arms. If either of them got hurt so help the one responsible.

Their vision went completely white for moments before they were suddenly in a room surrounded by people. They were still blinded by the light so they didn't see who it was at first. Val called her armor forward, not caring if her identity was compromised, she had a family to protect. Cujo detecting the stress and concern of the ones he choice as his owners transformed and stood in front of them protectively. Danny held his two kids close to him and summoned a light shield around him and the kids, just in case.

"Calm down, you are surrounded by allies only." Danny heard Batman's voice call out.

Danny blinked a few times before his vision finally cleared out and he realized who the people surrounding him were. There was Batman, Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Cyborg, Hawk woman, and Martian Manhunter.

"Red it's fine. Cujo stand down boy." He saw Cujo shrink back down to his smaller form, but the collar was deactivated for now. They still haven't figured out how to make it turn back on once Cujo's transformation forces it off. The blasters that Red had summoned disappeared back into her suit, but she was still in a defensive position just in case. She didn't know what this forced meeting was about, or even how they had gotten here. Danny turned to Batman as he handed Box lunch over to Val so he could have one arm open. Valerie grabbed onto Boxlunch who cuddled in close to Val, scared about what was going on around her. "Where are we, how did we get here, and why are we here?" he asked seriously.

Batman was about the answer when Ellie shouted out happily, "Zoom zoom man!" as she pointed at the Flash, then she turned to Batman, "Hi Batman."

Flash on the other hand was now suddenly very concerned. He had been surprised when Phantom was boom tubed into the watchtower with two kids in his arms. He hadn't recognized Ellie until she had called him her nickname for him. What was Danny's daughter doing with Phantom? Did something happen to Danny? Did Phantom kidnap Danny's daughter? "What are you doing with Ellie?" he asked suspiciously.

Phantom let out a resigned sigh as he ignored Flash for a moment and addressed Batman, "You really don't have any respect for secret identities, do you?"

Batman started answering his questions, "You are in the Justice Leagues watchtower, which is in space. You got transported by boom tube, Cyborgs specialty. The League has a proposition for you if you'll listen." He ignored Danny jibe at secret identities.

"Hey!" Flash said angrily which shocked most people in the room, Flash was rarely angry. He was the jokester of the team and ninety-five percent of the time was in an overly good mood. "Don't ignore me. What are you doing with Danny's kid?" he demanded. He was honestly worried for his friend right now.

Phantom sighed again, guess it was time to out himself to more people. He figured if anyone else had to know, the Justice League was a good start. "I have Ellie because she's my daughter. I would be pretty irresponsible if I didn't have her right now. You guys beamed us up from my backyard which could have left her at home alone you know." Then he focused on his human half and de-transformed into Fenton. He gave the Flash a careful smile, hoping that this didn't just immediately ruin their friendship. In the back of his mind though he was totally fanboying over the fact that he was currently in space and in the presence of a few aliens.

Flash's jaw dropped as he took in Danny's identity. He idly realized he had been tricked by Danny's friend to look deeper into Phantom. Danny kept saying that Phantom just wanted to be left alone, he guessed that he would know best on that subject since they were the same person. He thought that Danny was brave to take on a child at his young age, but now he had hero business on top of that? Then a thought came to him, "I was being haunted!"

Danny let out a chuckle, "Yeah sorry about that. It was just too much fun to stop. Plus, it was nice to be able to talk to another hero. Even if you didn't know I was one." Then he looked back to Batman, the unspoken leader of the League, "What did you want to talk about?"

"We put up a vote and the results were you joining the League. Both of you." Batman said bluntly.

Now it was Danny's turn for his jaw to drop, "You want us to what? Why?"

"Yeah, why suddenly out of the blue?" Red asked.

Superman stepped forward, clearing his throat. "Last month Batman brought up the situation of the anti-ecto acts up with the League. They are dangerously close to being passed through congress. We all want to stop them from going through, that bill is not morally right in any sense of the term. We discussed many different solutions to stop it but the most direct thing would for you to publicly join the League. If you are seen out there fighting crime with us, it would put you in a good light with the population. The more that the civilians like you the harder it will be for the GIW to push the notion that ghosts are evil and have no emotions."

Danny was almost speechless, they truly wanted to help him and the other ghosts. However, "I don't know if I will have any time. My days are pretty packed with school, Ellie, and ghost attacks."

"It wouldn't have to be a full-time thing. We would call you in to help with large scale things that we think you could help on." Wonder Woman explained.

"We will have to have a press conference soon to announce that you are the newest member so that we can get the press on it." Flash said with a smile.

A frown came over Danny face at the mention of the press, "Yeah, uh, the press doesn't exactly like me."

"We can change that my friend. You could come chill with me in central city every once in a while. The press should change their views on you pretty quick. The press loves me you know." Flash smirked at him as he threw his arm over Danny's shoulder.

Ellie wiggled her way out of her father's arms and into the Flash's. Flash's eyes went wide as the grabbed tight onto Ellie so he wouldn't drop her. "Well hello again little one." He said as she giggled and cuddled into the red clad hero.

Danny laughed at Flash's discomfort, he obviously wasn't used to taking care of children. His attention was drawn to Val as she called out his name in a slight panic. He turned to see Boxlunch floating towards him shakily. He was glad that Flash had taken Ellie as he had to dive to catch the now falling child. He caught her in the last second as she babbled happily at him, "Dan, Dan, Dadan, Dan." She chanted at him. She was almost starting to speak, just on the verge of actually forming full words. She had taken to calling him Dan or Dandan. He gave a sigh of relief from the floor as Boxlunch sat on his chest. He looked up at Val who had deactivated her armor and was looking at Danny in slight horror at almost dropping Boxy's daughter.

"Oh, Clockwork Danny I'm so sorry. She phased out of my grip and floated off before I could grab her." Val blurted out.

Danny shook his head, "Not your fault Val. Raising a ghost child is even harder than a human one, especially in the human world. Floating is the equivalent of crawling. In the zone, not much of a problem. Out of the zone gravity is quite the issue which Boxlunch here doesn't understand yet."

Martian Manhunter approached as he looked down at the blue-skinned child, "This is a ghost then?"

Danny nodded as he got, holding Boxlunch in his arms, "Yup. This here is Boxlunch. She's the daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady. She's cute but don't let that fool you, she's quite the handful. Even more so than Ellie was at her age." Boxlunch looked up at the Martian and giggled. Danny got a look on his face that showed he was up to no good. "Do you wanna hold her?"

Martian Manhunter's eyes went slightly wide at the thought, "I do not think I should."

Danny let out a chuckle, "Nonsense. She loves new people." He held out Boxlunch and she made grabby motions towards the green-skinned man.

Manhunter looked slightly shell shocked, "She is not afraid of me?"

Danny shook his head, "Naw. You probably remind her of some of her family. There are quite a few people in the Zone that have green skin."

Manhunter slowly and carefully took hold of Boxlunch and she happily patted his face. A happy smile slowly appeared on his face as he started playing with child. Old memories of his family came to mind as he played with the ghost child.

Danny walked over to the Flash and took Ellie back from him. "We can only stay for a few more minutes this time. I have a bunch of kids coming over this afternoon and I need to be there when they get there. I know Pandora will be really miffed if I'm not there when she drops off Pyrrha."

Wonder Woman was suddenly right in front of him, "Pandora is real, you know her?"

"Yeah, she's really nice. But also, super strong and scary when she wants to me. Maybe I can introduce you sometime. She's usually really busy in her kingdom but I go to visit her a bunch. She practically adopted me two years ago."

"Amazing. I thought she was simply a myth, does that mean her box is real as well." Green Lantern asked.

Danny scrunched up his face, "Oh yeah, and real trouble once it gets opened. Never let the Box Ghost get his hands on it. He almost destroyed Amity when he opened it that one time."

They spent the next twenty minutes discussing different things before Danny and Val had to boom back to their house so they could be there when the other kids showed up.


	7. Chapter 7 part one

As Jack fidgeted nervously in front of the address his daughter had given him, he came to the conclusion that it was a very normal house. To the average person they wouldn't notice a single thing that would make them think that this house belonged to a ghost hunter. To Jack's well-trained senses he did notice a light ghost shield surrounding the back yard and the slight smell of ectoplasm saturating the area. Giving the house another look he decided he rather liked it, it was a very nice homey house. He wasn't sure how his son had afforded a place like this but he was happy for him. Danny had always wanted to live a more normal life and a for a Fenton this was about as normal as he would get.

For the first time in a very long time Jack was unsure of himself. He usually didn't think things through very well. He was a man that acted first then thought over what he did after. Things usually worked themselves out in the end if he just followed his heart and passion. The last time he had been unsure of himself it had, ironically, been about Danny as well. He had been conflicted about supporting his wife or calling out to stop his son from flying away from them for good. He was pretty sure he had chosen wrong back then. During the past two years he had been trying to make up with his son as best as he could. He honestly missed his son and felt terrible about what happened that day three years ago. They had been trading letters using Jazz as the in-between as Danny hadn't wanted them to know exactly where he lived. In the couple months Danny had given him his email address so they could talk more frequently. Danny had told him that Ellie was turning four next week and that formed an idea within his mind. With all of the stories Danny had been telling over the past couple years he really had stated thinking of the little girl as his granddaughter, even though he had only seen her the once. He had started feeling the urge to see and get to know his granddaughter. He wasn't sure what his wife had against Danny's ghost half and his little girl in general, but Jack didn't share her sentiments. His wife had always been the more brutal of them. He had wanted to study ghosts as he was fascinated by them, his wife more wanted to destroy them. Once he had found out about Danny's other half, he had actually been very excited to see what his son could all do. He was also eager to get to know Ellie, he had always wanted to be a grandpa.

Jack was eager to talk to Danny about all the things going on in his life. Danny has the beginnings of his own ghost hunting business. He wanted to compare the two of them and see how they did things differently. Danny had named his business Fenton Tech where as his own was Fenton Inc. Every once in a while, he would get a call that was actually meant for Danny as the business names were so close to each other. Not only has his son started his own business at such a young age he was nearing the end of his second year of college. Jack was curious to see how his son was doing. His grades had taken a large dip for a while in high school, but he knew that was because of his duties as Phantom now. He had been pulling up his grades before he ran off. He wondered how his grades were now with the tougher classes and all the other things going on in his life.

The other major new thing in his son's life was his acceptance into the Justice League. He was insanely proud of his son. He was the first person brought into the league since it formed. Well, him and Red Huntress. He didn't actually know who Red Huntress was, other than his son's fighting partner. She was a very good ghost hunter though, which he had to appreciate. He had watched the press conference in awe as Superman himself welcomed his son and his partner onto the team. Jack had even successfully recorded the even as a memory to watch every now and then. The next few months had seen Phantom and Flash hanging out a lot together. Red Huntress was usually seen with either Wonder Woman or Cyborg. Just a month ago the whole league had stopped a world domination plan and Phantom had been seen on the front lines a whole lot.

That battle had seen to the complete cancelation of the anti-ecto acts. The GIW had tried to fight it, but they had been threatened with disbandment if they didn't drop the issue. When Jack had heard about that a weight had lifted off of his shoulders. There had always been a constant worry about his son with that act up in the air like that. Jack had read any articles about ghost related things and the reports written by Clark Kent about the anti-ecto act had been honestly terrifying. If the act had passed his son could have just disappeared and nobody would have even cared. He was beyond glad that his son and granddaughter were now safe. Well, safer from the government. It wasn't like the GIW was actually shut down, just the act that they were trying to pass. It only made it harder for the GIW to get their way.

Jack suddenly heard a dog barking from inside of the house and his son shouting to somebody. It brought him back to reality and his nervousness came back. Danny didn't know he was visiting. The last time he had visited Jazz he had told her how much he wanted to see Danny and completely make up with him face to face. She had stared at him for a while like she was mentally dissecting him, which he wouldn't' be surprised if she was. She was going to be a great psychologist one day. He had apparently passed whatever test she was putting him through as she had given him Danny's address and the date he should visit, under the terms of not telling Maddie about anything. He had instantly agreed and asked why the specific day. She had told him that was the day he had go see Danny as he would learn the most about his son was like now-a-days on that day. He wasn't sure what today was to Danny, but it sounded hectic inside the house. He just really hoped that Danny wouldn't immediately send him away. Jack took a reassuring breath before finally knocking on the door.

Valerie was bustling around the house, helping to get everything ready. Today was meetings day and they would be getting many visitors. It was something Danny had started to help organize things a little better, as a suggestion from Clockwork. Once a month they would host a series of meetings at the house; it usually fell upon the third weekend of the month. In the mornings he would talk to any ghosts about anything that was bothering them. Clockwork had said it would be good practice for the future, whatever that had meant. Frostbite, Dora, Amorpho, and Pandora usually came every time. If not to discuss issues than just to visit. There were other ghosts that would come and want to make a deal with Danny to spend some peaceful time in the human world. Kind of like he had done for Ember and her monthly concerts.

In the afternoon some people contracted with Fenton Tech would stop by asking for changes to their orders or shipments. Mr. Wayne showed up almost every month, stating it was a nice change of pace from the boring offices. The Mayor of Astral usually showed up as well to discuss the various safety measures they had set up for the town.

During the evenings members of the League would drop by. Some talked business but most just stop by to chat. J'onn would usually stop down to tell Danny which days he had shifts at the watch tower and then they would talk about space. Valerie would usually watch and roll her eyes as her boyfriend fanboyed all over the Martian. Danny and Valerie were usually too busy to just stop and chat with their friends lately, so they left open the evenings on this day to take advantage of their small bit of free time. Cyborg had figured out how to use his boom tubes to be in permanently set places. He called them Zeta-beam ports as they weren't actually boom tubes, but more like a cousin to them. A Zeta-beam port had been built in the Lair so they could come and go with relative ease. At least one port had been built in each hero's main town, and one up to the watchtower. So, getting somewhere if there was an emergency got a lot easier.

Danny was finishing up the cooking and Valerie was trying in vain to reign in Cujo. Ellie was down for a nap at the moment. Later more ghostly kids would show up and Ellie would have her monthly playdate with everyone, so she wasn't too bored with the official meetings all day. Youngblood usually showed shortly after meetings officially began. Valerie herself couldn't actually see Youngblood anymore, as only kids and others ghosts could see the boy. Either Danny or Ellie let her know if the boy was around. They had a strict rule in the house that Youngblood was banned from playing any pranks on Val. If he did, he was banned from the house for a certain amount of time. Youngblood didn't want that so he stayed on his best behavior around her. If anyone caught Ellie talking to Youngblood, they usually just brushed it off as an imaginary friend. The kid hadn't showed up at all this week, which was a bit odd. He usually showed up a couple times a week to play with Ellie. Valerie just shrugged it off as the boy being busy in the Zone. Box Lunch would be brought over by one of her parents when they stopped by. Box Lunch would then stay over for the rest of the weekend for a sleepover. It gave the two kids times to play together and a chance for Boxie's parents to spend some time alone together. Pyrrha would come over with her mom like usual, but she was staying over the weekend this time as well. This would be the first time she stayed over and she knew the girl was excited for the sleepover.

Val was interrupted from finally almost catching the disguised Cujo, who was super excited today for some reason, when somebody pounded on their front door. Danny poked his head out of the kitchen, a confused look on his face.

"Who could that be? Anyone scheduled the actually use the front door isn't coming until much later." All the ghosts just came up through the floor from the portal in the Lair.

"Don't know. I'll go get the door, you make sure your food doesn't burn." Val teased.

Danny pouted as he made his way back into the kitchen, "Oh come on, that was one time! I don't burn the food. That would be you."

Valerie laughed as she made her way to the front door, not denying what her boyfriend had said. She could burn water without even trying. In her job in the fast-food industry she never had to actually cook the food. The only foods she could safely make were instant ramen and ravioli out of a can. She was a wiz with the microwave. Danny was attempting to teach her, but the lessons usually ended with Danny using his ice powers to put out a fire.

Val opened the door, the greeting dying on her lips as she saw who stood on the doorstep, "Mr. Fenton?" she asked quietly, knowing her boyfriends enhanced hearing. Worry started entering her mind, what was he doing here? How did he even know where Danny was?

Jack's eyes went wide in surprise, he hadn't expected someone other than Danny to answer. He kind of recognized the girl and with a start remembered her name. This was the girl that his son was currently dating, "Ah, Valerie. It's good to see you. Is, uh, Danny in?"

Valerie stepped outside and closed the door so it was only opened a sliver. Danny would hear it close and wonder why she had stepped outside to talk to the mystery guest. She narrowed her eyes in warning at the man in front of her, "What are you doing here Mr. Fenton?" she demanded coldly. Danny had told her all about what his parents had done when he brought Ellie home. While Maddie had been the outspoken one, she had no reason to believe that Jack hadn't been in the same thoughts. If he was here to hurt Danny more, he would have to go through her first. She was a very protective person to the ones she cared about. Danny sometimes joked that she was more protective than he was and protecting people was his obsession.

Jack fumbled his hands awkwardly, "I've wanted to visit for a while now. Jazzy gave me his address a few days ago and said I should come today." He had no idea how someone so young managed to be so scary.

Valerie started at Danny's father for a moment and realized he didn't have any ill intent towards her boyfriend. That man seriously wore his emotions on his sleeve, there was no way he was that good of an actor. She let out a sigh and gave him a warning look and said quickly, "You hurt him and I will end you." She then opened up the door again and called out, "Danny Hun, can you come here for a moment. There is somebody at the door for you." She heard Danny making his way towards them and stepped in the line of view of Danny unconsciously still trying to protect him. She knew Danny wasn't fully ready to meet with his dad face to face quite yet. He still left a lot out in the emails they sent each other.

"Who's at the door Val? Is someone early?" Danny asked, a confused smile on his face. The moment he saw who was at the door the smile fell from his face, "What are… what are you doing here? How do you even know where I was?"

Jack's eyes lit up, ignoring the wariness from his son. It was just so amazing to see him in person again. Watching him on TV didn't do justice to the real thing, "Danny-boy it's so good to see you. Jazzy-pants gave me your address and told me to come see you today. Plus, I was thinking I could stay around for Ellie's birthday next weekend. I really would like to meet her properly, and get to know her."

Danny's mind calmed down as his father talked. Of course, Jazz would tell dad to visit on his busiest day of the month. He was still worried about one thing though, "What about mom?" He would never not love his mom, but he did not want her around his daughter. Not until her train of thought changed on ghosts.

Jack rubbed his arm as a sheepish expression crossed his face, "I told Maddie I was going on a fishing rip for a couple weeks."

"And if I choose not to let you through this door?" Danny asked curiously, yet seriously.

A frown pulled at Jack's lips, his own son should not have to be wary of him, "I'm really hoping you'll let me come in. If you don't, I just planned on actually going on that fishing trip. I haven't gone since the last time we went together. I really do hope you give me a chance though Danny."

Danny was surprised for a moment, he had never seen his dad so serious before. It threw him for a moment before he realized just how much his dad wanted to make up. Sure, they had been sending letters and more recently emails, but they were always filled with his dad's textbook personality. He had no idea how badly his dad actually wanted this. He let out a sigh as he realized he wanted this as well.

"You can come in on two conditions." Danny finally said.

Jack's entire face lit up, "Anything Danny-boy!"

"First of all, no ghost hunting equipment is allowed in the house." Danny said in a no-nonsense tone showing how serious this condition was.

Jack's eyes went wide at the implication, "Danny I would never hurt you or your daughter!" he exclaimed.

Danny gave him a small smirk, it was nice to hear his dad accept Ellie as his daughter, "I know you wouldn't do it on purpose, but I remember how many times I've had to dodge a gadget that locked onto my signature. Ellie won't know to dodge. Plus, I have a good number of ghosts coming to visit today."

Jack quickly nodded and made his way back to the Fenton RV. He reluctantly parted with all the ghostly equipment he had on him. He then went back to the front door where Danny was patiently waiting for him, "What's the second condition?"

Danny looked his father over to make sure there weren't any weapons that he had forgotten. It suddenly occurred to Danny that his dad was out of his signature jumpsuit. Jack was wearing a pair of jeans and a bright orange tee-shirt. He honestly didn't know his parents owned anything other that their jumpsuits. When Danny reassured himself that Jack had indeed gotten rid of all of his weapons, he named his second condition, "There will be no negative talk about ghosts in the house or around my daughter. She's grown up around ghosts her entire life. Her best friends are ghosts and I will not tolerate any bad talk around her."

Jack nodded slowly in agreement, that one would be hard for him. He didn't actually think bad of ghosts anymore. Well, most ghosts anyway. But the way of thinking was an ingrained habit at this point. He honestly was getting better though so he would do his very best. If holding his tongue was all it took to get his son back into his life then he would do his damndest.

Danny let out another long sigh before opening up the door the rest of the way, "Today will be a trial run. You can wait in the living room with Val. I have to go wake Ellie up." Jack walked passed him and Danny closed the door. He walked in the direction that Danny pointed and saw the spacious living room. "Hey Val can you get some snacks for Ellie?" he heard Danny call out.

Valerie walked out of what Jack was assuming was the kitchen holding a small plate of carrots and pretzels, "Already on it Danny. I also took your brownies out of the oven."

"Ah, thanks Hun. I forget about them."

Jack sat awkwardly, looking around the room he was left in. One would think it was a very normal living room, if not for the slight scorch marks littering the walls. He was a bit concerned about the cause of the burn marks, but figured it couldn't be anything too bad. He was looking at the pictures hung up on the walls for about a minute when he heard Danny yell out.

"Val incoming."

Seconds later he heard small and fast footsteps moving towards him. He heard Valerie laugh from her spot on the couch. A tiny black-haired girl zoomed passed him and barreled onto Valerie's lap. The moment she collided with Val she started babbling.

"Val, I dreamed I was flying like daddy, but all by myself. Me and grandpa Frostbite when on an ad… advance… adventure in Auntie Dora's woods. Then me and Boxie were playing in Grandma Pan's flower maze. We got lost and it was scary but then Daddy came and saved up and we went flying again." The little girl explained her dream excitedly.

Valerie petted the girl's hair, trying to tame it a bit, and laughed happily, "That sounds awesome baby. Where is you dad?"

"I made her bed quickly." Danny said as he walked into the room.

It was then that Ellie notice the new man sitting on the couch next to them. He was staring at her with wide eyes. Ellie still wasn't the best with new people. She was a very shy person until she got to know them. She quickly made her way over to her dad and hid behind his legs.

Jack looked at Danny questioningly. Danny put a comforting hand on his daughter's head and gave his dad a smile, "She's not that good with new people. It took her months to be comfortable with Val. She has a tendency to stare at new people."

Jack nodded in understanding, "Ah, that's fine. Jazz was pretty shy when she was little too." Jack said and sent a smile at the child, "Hello little one."

Danny kneeled down and Ellie immediately transferred her hug from his legs to his torso, "Ellie, honey, this is your Grandpa Jack."

Ellie looked at her dad with confused eyes. Weren't people only supposed to have two grandpas? She already had Grandpa Frostbite and Grandpa Clockwork, "How's he my Grandpa?" she asked quietly.

Danny picked his daughter up as he explained, "He's my dad, which makes him your Grandpa. He's come to visit for the day, is that okay?"

Ellie looked from her dad to her now named Grandpa Jack. She had thought Grandpa Clockwork was her daddies dad, but she guessed not. Grandpa Jack was looking at her with hope in his eyes. She looked back to her daddy who was letting her make the choice if the man stayed or not. She shrugged slightly as she snuggled closer to her Daddy, "I don't mind." She answered quietly. She must have answered correctly because Daddy kissed her on the cheek before setting her down on her beanbag chair. She recognized her after nap snack and grabbed a carrot before happily biting down on it. She would give the new man a chance because it made her daddy happy, she decided as she watched her daddy talk to the man.

A few hours later Danny was already feeling the strain of the day. On one hand it was nice getting through all of these meetings in one day. On the other hand, sometimes, there were a lot of people that showed up and it could get exhausting after a while. Today was one of those days. Just today so far, they had planned out Ember's concert locations for the next month. Tucker would book stages and start advertisements about where the rock star would be. Danny had played mediator to Johnny and Kitty who were having another fight. Amorpho had wanted to be useful and go on undercover missions for Danny, or so he claimed. Danny didn't really have anything for him to do however so he had to politely decline the man's offer. Dora had shown up to talk politics for a while. She had seemed nervous about something, but kept brushing it off as nothing. There were also a few lower level ghosts that had simply wanted permissions to come out of the zone and see the human realm. Val had volunteered to tour them around sometime next month. Now all that was left, at least the ones that had actually scheduled, were Frostbite and Pandora who were showing up together this time. Danny was starting to wonder where Youngblood was, as the boy usually showed up by now. He never passed up a chance to play with Ellie. He had been strangely silent all week and it was starting to worry Danny actually. Neither Box Ghost or Lunch Lady showed up which meant Box Lunch wasn't here either. Ellie was pretty sad that neither of her friends had shown up. He had tried to keep her as entertained as possible, but thankfully his dad had helped him with that.

Danny glance over to his dad who, as promised, had been on his best behavior. Ellie had actually gotten over her initial wariness of him and was contently sitting on his lap playing with Batbear and her gothic princess doll.

"Hey Dad?" Danny got his attention as he cleaned up a little. Ghosts weren't always the cleanest creatures. Especially the lower level ghosts who were less humanoid in nature.

"Yeah Dann-o?" Jack asked with a large happy grin.

Danny gave him a smile in return, "Thanks for trying so hard today. It's been nice so far." The ghosts that had visited had all been wary of the older Fenton at first, but eventually let their guard down. Practically everyone had heard about what happened the night Phantom got his daughter, there had been an ecto-pus that had witnessed everything and then proceeded to tell everyone he saw about what happened. Not too many had been happy with the Fenton parents.

"Not a problem Danny Boy. Like I said I never had an issue with you and by extension Ellie. I actually thought it was pretty cool you had powers, still do actually. I'm not sure what Maddie's problem with your ghost half is. I mean you're still our Danny, just with a bit extra.

"The thing I had a problem with at the time was Vlad. I had thought of Vlad as my best friend for nearly half of my life. He was the guy I could always count on. I just didn't want to accept that he was one of the most violent ghosts out there. Even with the proof of him transforming right in front of me. The Wisconsin ghost was at the top of our watch list. I came to realize however that if I wanted to make up with you, I would have to give up on Vladdie. So, I made my choice, you Dann-o" Jack said sincerely as he gently tickled Ellie's sides.

Danny was absolutely floored, that had been the most sophisticated thing he had ever heard his dad say, "Wow." He said simply before adding, "Thanks Dad."

He felt Val wrap her arms around him and he gave her a squeeze back. She then whispered something to him that made Danny's eyes widen in realization. He kissed her cheek, "You're right Hun." He turned back to his dad who was grinning at the couple.

"I need to give you a heads up about our last two ghostly guests. Their names are Frostbite and Pandora. Ellie views Frostbite as a grandpa and he his legally her godfather. He's been a great mentor through the years and he's very proud at his role. Pandora is a bit more complicated.

"In the zone it is very common for the older ghosts to adopt the younger or newly made ghosts. Pandora, she adopted my ghost half. Legally within the zone she is my mother. I do view her as my second mom and I'm not going to pretend otherwise while you are around."

Jack was silent in thought for a few moments before saying, "I understand son. You've moved on with your life after our fight. I don't blame you for that either, it wasn't like I expected you to not change. Sure, it hurts a little to think my granddaughter thinks of someone else as a grandpa before me." He gave a small grimace, "That's my own fault though isn't it? To be honest I'm glad someone stepped in to look after you. I can't wait to meet the person who took in my son while I was unable to."

Danny looked at his dad in pleasant surprise. He was honestly seeing a whole different side to his dad today. Before he could say anything back, a voice interrupted.

"That is a good mindset to have human." Pandora praised the older Fenton. "Son, it is good to see you well."

"Hey mom." Danny greeted with a smile.

"Brother!" Pyrrha shouted in excitement as she glomped Danny.

Danny hugged the younger girl back, "Good to see you too Pyrrha."

Jack looked at the two new comers. Pandora was a blue skinned ghost that had four arms. She had deep red eyes that held love for his son. Her hair was very long, bright pink, and slightly fiery. The younger girl had light orange skin. Her eyes were a deep green that shined with mischief. She had long red hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Her hair was also completely on fire, like that rocker ghost that had visited earlier. They both wore ancient Greece inspired clothing. Pandora wore a yellow and black tunic that was almost floor length while Pyrrha wore a green and black one that fell to mid-thigh. Pandora had in one of her hands a staff that was glowing white on top. Jack came to the realization that this ghost in front of him was very powerful and should not be messed with under any circumstances.

"You're a bit early. Where is Frostbite." Danny asked as Pyrrha let him go before approaching Jack and scooping Ellie right off his lap.

Pandora got a serious look on her face, "We were forced to move our schedule up a bit. Lord Frostbite is making sure that nobody is following us, while protecting the young one. There is trouble within the Zone, young Phantom."

Danny instantly looked worried, as did Valerie. Jack watched everything silently, whatever was happening right now he knew it was slightly beyond him.

"What's wrong?" Danny and Valerie asked at the same time.

"I shall wait for Lord Frostbite to catch up." Pandora said as she sat down in one of Danny's armchairs. Exhaustion suddenly showing up on her face.

"I am here Lady Pandora. We were not followed by anyone, but I cannot seem to calm the young one down." Frostbite said as he bounced a wailing Boxlunch in his arms.

Danny's mind snapped into his mother-hen mode, as Val liked to call it, and took his goddaughter out of Frostbite's hold. He started rubbing circles on her back as she dug her face into the crook of his neck and kept wailing, "What is going on?" Danny demanded.

Frostbite let out a tired sigh, "We were trying to solve this problem on our own Great One. You have enough on your plate to deal with, we did not wish to bother you with something we though trivial at the time. We still don't want you going out of your way as of yet. We were able to solve our own problems before you showed up, we should be able to do something without having to turn to you to do everything for us."

"Ghosts are going missing within the Zone." Pyrrha said quietly as she snuggled Ellie close to herself. Almost as if to reassure her that her adopted niece was still there.

Valerie's eyes widened in horror, "What do you mean people are going missing?"

Pandora nodded sagely, "Just that young hunter. It started a few months ago. A few ecto-pusses or other animal-based ghosts went missing. It wasn't that odd of a thing to worry about and easy enough to brush off. Then lower level ghosts started going missing at the start of this month. A few of Princess Dora's soldiers have gone missing, I've had a few warriors disappear, and even Frostbite is missing a couple of his tribe. It escalated once again at the beginning of this week. Youngblood went missing on Tuesday and just this morning Lunch Lady had vanished."

Danny looked down at Boxlunch who had quieted a little bit but was still crying into his shoulder. An uneasiness started settling down in his gut, this could bode really bad. Before he could say anything, Pandora continued.

"Box Ghost has joined the search for the missing and has expressed his wish for you to watch his daughter until the missing has been found. I too, must ask you to watch after Pyrrha until this danger has passed. I don't want to risk it, Pyrrha is my everything."

Danny immediately nodded in agreement, "Of course I'll watch after them. I'll protect them with everything I have."

Pandora smiled at him, "I know you will Son, but do remember that your safety is a priority as well."

"Right. I'll be careful, I promise. Do you have any leads at all?" Danny asked.

"We know that they are not within the Zone, but how they are being taken from the Zone is unknown. We don't know who is behind the disappearances either." Frostbite explained.

Danny nodded in thought, "I'll have Tucker look into ghost activity anywhere odd. I'll also see if the League has heard of anything. Let me know if anymore of the Amity ghosts go missing. Tucker has images of them that he can put searches out with."

"We will keep you informed, young warrior. As of now the ghosts that were often seen in Amity that have gone missing are Youngblood, Lunch Lady, and one of the trio of buzzards that Vladimir liked to employ." Pandora informed him.

"Thanks, I'll get Tucker on it by the end of the night. I have at least one Leaguer stopping by later. I'll ask them to keep an eye out." Danny reassured them.

"We thank you Great One. I have heard rumors that Wulf may be making his way towards you as well." Frostbite said.

Danny chuckled, "Why not just call this place sanctuary at this point."

Valerie rolled her eyes, "Don't even joke about that. The last thing we need is a house full of ghosts."

"Well that is all for now Son. We must be getting back as we are helping to lead the searches. We simply needed to inform you of the situation and drop the children off. Stay safe." Pandora said.

Both of the ghosts fisted their hands over their cores and bowed slightly before making their way back to the portal.

Danny shared a concerned glance with his girlfriend. This did not bode well, not at all.

"That didn't sound good Danny." Jack said worriedly.

"No, no it didn't." Danny sighed. It bothered him that this was the first he was hearing about it. He should have known something was wrong when Youngblood hadn't shown up at all this week. He mentally beat himself up. If he had known about this sooner could he have done something? He looked down at Boxlunch who had finally worn herself out and had literally cried herself to sleep. He doubted that she really knew what was happening, she was still too young. But she could still sense that something was wrong. Young ghosts usually were able sense and absorb emotions with more ease as it helped them develop.

Valerie laid her hand on Danny's shoulder, "Danny why don't you settle the girls down Ellie's room. The Fenton Tech meetings are going to be starting soon."

"Right. Pyrrha can you watch these two until later?" Danny asked.

Pyrrha nodded, her hair flickering showing her worry for her mother, "Of course Brother." She still had Ellie in her arms and tickled Ellie slightly who laughed happily, "Come on niece let us go play."

"I'll be right back." He told Valerie and Jack before following after Pyrrha with Boxlunch in his arms. This day was proving to be a very long and tiring day and it was barely noon. He laid Boxlunch down on her bed, he had put a second bed in Ellie's room as the girls didn't want to be separated during sleepovers. He had brought it over from the ghost zone so she wouldn't be able to phase through it. "Alright just come and get me if you can't handle something. I don't care if someone is here, I'll brush it off somehow."

"Okay Brother. We should be fine though." Pyrrha told him.

Danny nodded, "I'll have Val bring you guys some lunch later. Otherwise there are a few snacks in the top drawer over there if you guys get hungry." He pointed to a set of drawers in the corner of the room.

Pyrrha hugged Danny tightly, "I know you are worried, but we will be fine brother. Go, finish your meetings for the day."

Danny sighed, "Right, sorry. I know I worry too much."

Pyrrha shook her head in understanding, "It's your obsession, I totally understand. You quite literally can't help it."

Danny fluffed Pyrrha's hair in thanks before heading back to the living room. As soon as he got there Val go his attention.

"Who do you think is behind it?" she asked in seriousness.

"I don't know, it could be a number of people. The first people that come to mind are the GIW, but I don't know how they would be able to do it. I would understand if they disappeared here, but they disappear within the Zone. The GIW doesn't have access to the Zone. Tucker still keeps a pretty close eye on them, so if they are somehow behind it, they are keeping off electronic records and away from cameras.

"Vlad also comes to mind, it's something he would have done in the past. I haven't heard anything from Vlad since the night Clockwork gave me Ellie. He has been eerily quiet. It could be him, but somehow, I doubt it. If Vlad had been seen within the Zone, somebody would have let me know.

"There is also the slight possibility that it could be Freakshow. That insane man escaped from the GIW holding cells again. I don't think he's managed to fix his scepter though, I did smash it into many tiny bits. There is always the possibility he knows where to get another one though. There is no guarantee that the orb was one of a kind. I had been talking to Batman the other day about him when I found out he escaped. Batman thinks that the Orb may be a different kind of Kryptonite. So, there is the possibility that there might be more crystals with the same power, which wouldn't be a good thing.

"Finally, it could be someone completely knew. For all I know it could be one of the League's many villains that have decided to branch off into my territory. There are a few people that could have the resources and drive to somehow abduct Zone citizens. Lex Luthor is the top one that comes to mind. If Luthor thought that ghosts could bring down Superman than there is a chance that he could be plotting something. That is all entirely guesswork though. Honestly it could be anyone." Danny finished with a sigh.

Val shook her head, "No you're right. Those can be the first people we look into. It at least gives us a place to start looking. Pandora and Frostbite can lead the search on their side, trying to figure out where the missing people disappear too. We'll look on our side and try and find where they end up. We'll get word to the search party over there to keep an eye out for Lydia. If it is Freakshow than Lydia is definitely helping the psycho. If they do find and clear Lydia then we can for sure cross somebody off our list. Tucker can dig deeper into the GIW and see if there is anything odd going on. I doubt they are smart enough to completely keep it off the records if they are behind it. They have too much ego not to record it somehow. If it's Luthor that'll be a bit more difficult. We can always ask Supes to keep a close eye on that enemy of his. See if he's up to anything sketchier than usual. If it is Vlad that is going to be the most difficult. He went completely to ground after your fight that day. He took all of his money and most cherished possessions before abandoning all of his current homes and hideouts.

"Don't get me wrong Danny I think this is a serious problem. At the same time, I don't think this will be too catastrophic in the end. Clockwork usually warns you if anything too bad is coming. Either that or whatever happens is supposed to happen in the long run. I think everything will work itself out in the end." Val said hopefully.

Danny gave her a worried smile, "I hope you're right Val."

They were interrupted by a knock on the door, right more people were coming. He almost forgot that the meetings weren't over for the day. It was easy to forget when something much more pressing came to the forefront.

Valerie saw his conflicted look and correctly guessed what it was about. Sometimes her boyfriend was way too easy to read, "This has been going on for a couple months without us knowing Danny, a few more hours isn't going to hinder anything we do. We'll bring it up to the League tonight when they show up and then tomorrow morning, we can contact Tucker and Sam and bring them up to date with everything. Now go answer the door Ghost boy."

Danny gave her a quick kiss in thanks before running to get the door.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Jack asked. He didn't realize how complex his son's problems could get. He thought he just stopped whatever ghosts that showed up and sent them back to the zone. He had no idea that he played mediator and helped with problems of this magnitude. He didn't even stop to think before that the ghost zone would have problems like this. He really did have a lot to learn about the other side of the portal he had created. It was a shame that the one at their home had been locked down. He knew that Danny had been behind it. Maddie had been completely furious when she realized they couldn't unlock their portal. In hindsight, it was probably a good idea that their portal remained shut. Don't get him wrong he loved his wife with everything he had, but she had been becoming more and more extreme as of late. He had even heard her blaming their son for things that were out of his control. He was becoming worried that Maddie would one day do something that she would grow to regret, or go too far over the edge and he wouldn't be able to pull her back.

Valerie looked over to Jack, a thoughtful look on her face. It was obvious that the man actually wanted to help, but with so little information she wasn't sure what he would be able to do. She remembered Jack well from growing up in Amity. Sure, he had showed a more mature side today, but underneath it all he was still the immature and trigger-happy man that ran around screaming ghost at the top of his lungs. Then an idea formed in her head, she knew now that Danny knew of the danger, he would become fully dedicated to find the missing ghosts. Which would take up a lot of their time, "How long do you plan on staying around Mr. Fenton?"

"I was hoping to stay around for at least Ellie's birthday, though I told Maddie I would be fishing for two weeks. Also call me Jack, it's weird to be called Mr. Fenton." Jack answered.

Valerie chuckled, "Right then, Jack, knowing Danny he's going to work himself into the ground trying to find everybody. I'm going to have my hands full reminding him to take care of himself and keeping up caught up with our school work and out business. What do you think about helping us watch the kids while you're here. If it was just Ellie, he would probably send her over to Jazz's place for a while. It's what he does when he needs to throw his full attention into something. But he won't want to do that with both Boxlunch and Pyrrha here."

Jack grinned widely, "I would love to watch the kids. I wanted to get to know Ellie anyway. That sounds perfect!"

Val smiled at him, "Cool I'll let Danny know." She said as Danny led the Mayor into the room. Mayor Robert Osborne was a very kind leader, who took his role of looking after his city very seriously. "Mayor Osborne it's good to see you. How is April doing?" April was his ten-year-old daughter, she came with him every once in a while. She was very much a daddy's girl.

"Valerie it's good to see you as well. April is doing good. She very much enjoyed your ghost safety lecture at the school the other day. Thank you for doing that." Osborne said joyfully.

"Not a problem Mr. Mayor. It's my pleasure to teach people how to protect themselves." Valerie told him.

"Is there anything we can help you with Mayor Osborne?" Danny politely asked.

"Ah yes I wanted to talk about more safety measures at the schools. Who is this by the way?" he asked looking over at Jack.

"This is my father, Jack Fenton. He's visiting for a while." Danny said.

The next half hour was spend talking details over advances in defense for the school. They made some small talk as well, Danny and Valerie had started to become decent friends with the Mayor during their time in Astral. Before long the Mayor had to leave, he had others things he had to do.

The only person they had left before the Leaguers started showing up was Bruce Wayne. Hopefully they could keep the meeting short so they could alert the team about the potential danger. Danny's core started thrumming in anticipation, he had a feeling bad things were coming.


End file.
